Stork Brings Stark
by Metaphoric.Love
Summary: Newly married Tony and Pepper embark on a journey neither of them had planned for.
1. Chapter 1

Tony Stark was in his basement workshop welding on a new project when his fuel line was turned off and the lights were kicked on. Tony tugs of his welding mask and tosses it on the table.

"Dummy! Get off the fuel line!" Dummy, who was sitting in front of Tony, was quite obviously not on the fuel line. The robot tilts his head and looks down in sadness for getting reprimanded again.

"Actually Mr. Stark, I was the one who turned off the fuel source. " Jarvis admits as he speaks up from the ceilings.

"I believe that Mrs. Stark requires your attendance upstairs in the master bathroom." Tony grins before tugging off his gloves and tossing them down next to the helmet before leaving the workshop and heading upstairs to the main level of the house. He stops off and washes his hands in a guest bathroom before heading to the master bedroom and walking through to the bathroom, finding Pepper sitting on the edge of the bathtub, worrying her hands together, looking down, and sniffling. It was a day off for her so she was dressed in yoga pants and Tony's MIT t-shirt, her bare toes curling into the marble floor over and over.

"Pep?" Tony asks softly, worried something was wrong with his wife of just a few months. Pepper jumps and her head snaps up, her red eyes instantly welling when she sees Tony in the doorway.

"What are you…I thought you were working on some new specs for the suit…" Tony nods, sitting on the tub next to Pepper before wrapping an arm around her. He kisses her head softly and squeezes her.

"I was, Jarvis said that you needed me though." Pepper nods herself before letting out a whining sound and burying her face into Tony's shoulders, bursting into tears. Tony's eyes widen as he holds her even closer, stroking her back and hair softly.

"Shhh…it's okay…I'm here…you're okay." Pepper cries for a while before her crying subsides to sniffling. Tony pulls her hair back from her face and strokes her tears away from her skin.

"What's wrong my little Pepperpot?" Pepper smiles slightly when he uses her nickname. She shakes her head and sits up a little bit reaching behind her to retrieve the small item that had fallen into the tub before Tony had come in. She hands it to him and takes a deep shuddering breath.

"I'm pregnant." Tony's eyes widen as he looks at the pregnancy test in his hands.

"You're sure?" Pepper nods and smiles weakly.

"I had Jarvis confirm it…he did some scan thing…said that I'm about ten weeks…" Tony smiles at Pepper and squeezes her tight, kissing her sound.

"That's great!"

"It is?" Pepper looks up at Tony with surprise, she'd spent the last twenty minutes worrying about whether or not he had his lawyer on speed dial and how soon she'd have to leave the house on the bluffs that she'd been calling her own for the last year.

"Yeah! I mean…I know we haven't talked about having kids at all but…I want to…you know?"

"You actually want to have kids? I thought you hated kids."

"I'm not in love with them…but a wise computer once told me that it changes when they're your own kids." Pepper rolls her eyes softly as he spouts the wisdom from Jarvis.

"So this is a good thing?" Tony nods and smiles.

"Of course it is." Pepper smiles even wider and wraps her arms around Tony, holding on tight.

"Thank god." The redhead takes in a deep breath of her husband's scent, relaxing instantaneously.

"You okay?" Pepper nods silently and Tony picks her small frame up carrying her to bed. He lays her down and gets in next to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Pepper rolls over and smiles at Tony kissing him softly, resting her forehead against his.

"I love you Mr. Stark."

"I love you too Mrs. Stark." Tony smiles and squeezes Pepper softly.

"Do you need me to do anything?" Pepper shakes her head and smiles softly before closing her eyes.

"You're doing it." 

"Okay."


	2. Chapter 2

"Tony?" Pepper lifts her head up at two a.m. her growling stomach not letting her get any sleep. When Tony doesn't respond Pepper pokes his side.

"Tony get up."

"Mmm?" Tony's hopeful mumble comes out as he scoots closer to Pepper.

"I'm hungry…" Tony lets out an uninterested grunt before rolling back away slightly.

"Tonyyyy." Pepper whines softly into Tony's ear, waking her husband up. She pokes him again and rests her nose on his shoulder.

"What Pep?" Tony opens his heavily lidded eyes and turns his head slightly looking back at Pepper.

"I'm hungry." Pepper sticks her bottom lip out as she looks up at Tony with puppy dog eyes.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Mmm…your chocolate ice cream that's in the freezer."

"Pep…" Tony had been saving his ice cream for a rainy day.

"We can go get more tomorrow I promise." This really meant that Tony would have to go get some. Tony sighs and nods, getting out of bed. He pulls his underwear on along with some sweat pants before going downstairs and into the kitchen. He swings open the freezer door and cringes when he finds the ice cream missing, finally remembering that he'd eaten it a few hours ago when he'd gotten home from his mission (his version of a rainy day) before going upstairs to get in bed with Pepper. Tony curses to himself and he rubs a hand over his face before deciding to suck it up and go upstairs to see if Pepper wanted anything else to eat or if he was going to need to go out. He climbs the stairs back to the bedroom and lingers in the doorway watching Pepper rub her belly softly.

"Hey, we're out of the chocolate ice cream." Pepper pouts as her hands pause on her belly.

"But the baby wants chocolate ice cream."

"We've got chocolate milk and chocolate cookies…"

"No, ice cream." Tony sighs.

"Okay I'll be back soon." Tony snaps his shirt up from the floor and tugs it on, leaving the house and heading for the grocery store. He grabs a cart when he walks inside, pushing it to the frozen treats section before pushing the door open forcefully so it stayed open. He empties all of the chocolate ice cream in the brand he knew Pepper liked into the cart before filling the rest of it with other flavors. After paying for the ice cream, not without an odd look from the cashier, Tony loads all of it into the car before heading back home. He has Dummy put it into the freezer after he grabs a box of chocolate himself with two spoons before heading upstairs. Tony squints and grumbles when he finds Pepper fast asleep with an abandoned chocolate milk glass on the bedside table. He looks at the ice cream in his hands and shrugs before going downstairs. He was up now.

..ironman

Tony looks away from the television when he hears Pepper's heels clack against the marble floor of the house. He finds his wife already dressed for work, looking at him and his rumpled state expectantly.

"What?"

"You're sitting on the couch, in your underwear, watching cartoons, and we have to be at Stark Industries in 20 minutes." Tony swallows, knowing he'd regret his next question from the look in her eyes.

"Why?"

"Why! Why! Besides the fact that we're responsible for an entire corporation? Besides the fact that there's a stack of paper on your desk about a mile high of projects that need to be funded or alter or cut or refunded or demonstrated or…" Tony quiets Pepper with a kiss before pulling back a moment later.

"Okay, I'll go get dressed, five minutes, then we'll leave." Pepper glares at Tony and Tony smiles before going upstairs. He gets dressed and cleaned up at a remarkable speed and five minutes later he's straightening his tie as he walks down the stairs.

"See." Tony smiles at Pepper and kisses her as he puts a hand on her back, walking her to the car.

"So this stack of paper…a mile high?" Pepper rolls her eyes and her frustration gives way to a smile as Tony opens her door for her, Happy already waiting in the car.

"Yes. A mile high."

"Hmm." Tony slides into the car and shuts the door.

"Happy, my wife has informed me that it's imperative that we get to the office in 15 minutes."

"Yes sir." Pepper hits Tony in the chest softly before laying her head down.

"I missed you last night."

"You missed me last night? You were up for 10 minutes then fell asleep." Pepper looks up at Tony and pouts.

"I slept horrible when you didn't come back to bed." Pepper exaggerates her pout a bit more after Tony apologizes.

"Kiss please." Tony leans down and kisses Pepper smiling at her softly.

"Maybe we should put a fridge in the bedroom…so I don't have to go far to get your cravings…"

"Mmm…maybe."

"Don't we have the press conference thingy today?" Pepper smiles and shakes her head softly in mock exaggeration.

"Yes Tony, we have the press conference thingy today. We need to tell the press I'm pregnant."

"Why? I figured we could keep it a secret the next few months and surprise them with a baby."

"Because I don't want to have to hide for the next five months…and I want to be able to shop for our baby."

"You want to buy shoes for our baby."

"Yes, that shopping would include shoes." Tony strokes Pepper's back softly and smiles at her.

"Okay I suppose we can tell them."

"Good because the press conference starts when we get there."

"Which is where we are." Happy pipes up from the front seat as he stops the car in front of the Stark offices. He gets out and opens the door letting Tony out and stepping back as he helps Pepper out, keeping a hold on her hand as he walks her through the crowd of waiting reporters, making sure no one gets too rough. Once they get inside they head into the conference area and up to the podium. Tony stands next to Pepper at the podium, deciding to let her talk since it was mostly her news to tell. Pepper waits for everyone to quiet down before smiling softly.

"Tony and I just have a quick announcement to make and then we'll be taking questions for twenty minutes." The soft clicks of cameras and flashes fill the air as Pepper looks at Tony for a moment. She takes his hand and squeezes softly before speaking back into the microphone after turning her head back to the crowd.

"Tony and I are expecting a baby that's due in the fall." The second Pepper mentioned the word baby the press went wild, everyone shouting questions at Pepper and Tony. Tony raises his voice to get everyone to quiet.

"Hey! One at a time if you want your questions answered!" The entire lot immediately quiets and Pepper starts calling on people.

"Daniel Smith, Daily Mirror. How far along are you?"

"Fifteen weeks give or take a day or so." Tony calls on the next person.

"Do you know the gender?" Tony and Pepper answer 'no' simultaneously. The two continue to answer questions for the next half hour before Pepper says their done and other inquiries can be made to their PR department.


	3. Chapter 3

"Pepper!" Pepper looks up from her spot on the floor as she hears Tony yell out her name, her watery eyes clouding her vision.

"Mrs. Stark is in the living room sir, the paramedics are four blocks away." Tony clunks across the floor to Pepper's form, still clad in his Ironman boots. He sinks down to his knees by her side and leans down to kiss her lips.

"It's okay baby. The ambulance is almost here." Tony threads his fingers with Pepper's and squeezes softly. Pepper lets out a whimper and curls in on her stomach as a wave of pain rolls through her. Tony had been out on a mission, flying over Europe when Jarvis had informed him that Pepper and the baby were in distress. Tony had made a u-turn and headed home as fast as he could after instructing Jarvis to call 911 and tell them to meet him at the house.

"What happened baby?" Tony strokes hair from Pepper's face, talking to her to keep her calm.

"I…I was just coming upstairs to do some work and…it felt like someone stabbed me…it hurts so bad Tony." Pepper breaks into another round of sobs, letting out a pained yell once more. Jarvis announces that the paramedics had arrived, letting them into the house and having Dummy junior guide them to the living room. Tony gets shoved out of the way as the two men kneel next to Pepper, taking a few vitals before loading her onto a gurney and starting to rush her out of the house.

"Wait! Where are you taking her!" The doors to the ambulance slam shut and the van takes off.

"Jarvis, put me back in the suit!" Tony clamors downstairs and gets back into the Ironman suit following the ambulance to the hospital before touching down in the ambulance bay at the hospital. He takes his helmet off and follows them inside, getting abandoned once again as they whisk Pepper behind 'personnel only' doors. It was after a couple moments that he realized everyone in the ER was staring at him. Tony walks to the bathroom and into a stall, having the suit break down into the carrying case formation before calling Happy and having him bring over bags for both him and Pepper. Happy knocks on the stall door ten minutes later and Tony takes his bag, putting on a shirt that covered the arc reactor and a suitable pair of jeans before leaving the stall and giving the football to Happy. He thanks the bodyguard softly before leaving the bathroom and going to wait for more information on Pepper. Tony's hands were fiddling and picking as he waited. He hated sitting still, and hated sitting still in a hospital even more. Every time a doctor came out he wanted to spring out of his chair and demand information about his wife, but each time it was for someone else.

Finally a doctor came out about half an hour (or a lifetime in Tony's book) after Pepper had been admitted and called out his name. Tony hopped up and practically ran to the doctor.

"How is she? How's the baby?" The doctor smiles at Tony and closes Pepper's folder.

"Your wife and the baby are fine. They are in the OR right now but it's just a simple precaution. Mrs. Stark's appendix was seriously enlarged which was what was causing her pain, the increasing size and movement of the baby is what caused the worse than normal aggravation, so we're going to remove it and then they both should be good as new." Tony felt like his heart was going to explode as the doctor explained what was going on with Pepper and the baby.

"When will she be out of surgery?"

"In about twenty minutes and we'll put her in recovery at which time you'll be able to see her." Tony nods and turns to go sit down once again before the doctor stops him and hands him an envelope.

"Your wife asked me to give you these." Tony nods once again quietly before going to sit down. He opens the envelope and smiles as he pulls out a couple black and white grainy pictures of the baby. He spends a while staring at them as if he was trying to memorize the baby's features already. When a nurse comes out to get him he tucks the pictures away before following her to Pepper's room, smiling at his wife as he walks in and sits next to her bed. Pepper reaches out and curls her fingers around Tony's, turning her head to look at him.

"Thank you." Tony frowns and tilts his head questioningly.

"For what?"

"Coming home." Pepper yawns and closes her eyes, going back to sleep.

..ironman

Tony had brought Pepper home the next morning and sequestered her to the bedroom to get better, telling her that she was taking off work for the rest of the week, if not for the rest of her pregnancy. He hadn't 'decided' yet. Pepper had spent the first few hours of the morning sleeping as her pain meds kept her in a post surgical sleepy state, but by the afternoon she was bored of being in bed, especially since Tony was at the office, since she couldn't be. A few minutes later Pepper gets out of bed before getting dressed in Tony's sweats, after finding out that her figure hugging sweatpants no longer fit her burgeoning belly.

Pepper pads downstairs and makes herself some lunch before taking it upstairs again. She chews on the sandwich she'd made as she stands in front of the door to the room that was next to hers and Tony's. Ideally she wanted it to be the baby's room, but she didn't know what was in there. Pepper shrugs and decides that she might as well find out while she has time to clean anything up or get anything moved out. Pepper unlocks the door and slips inside happy to find that it was basically a guest room that had cardboard boxes stacked in various places around it, like no one had ever finished moving in. She nudges at a couple of the boxes before calling in Dummy and Butterfingers and having them move the boxes so they weren't stacked anymore. Seeing all of them laid out on the floor Pepper knew it was going to take a while to organize all of them. She asks Jarvis to order her Chinese food before slipping onto the floor and starting on her first box.

..ironman

Pepper caught on after the first couple boxes that they contained stuff from Tony's childhood. Two boxes were stuffed with home movies that she'd organized by date and stacked onto the empty bookshelf in the room. She'd also found a box of loose pictures and photo albums that she'd set aside to look at after everything else. Pepper had found a box of Tony's baby things, clothes, some toys (especially intriguing was the well worn rabbit that looked like his ear had been chewed on extensively), and most importantly, Tony's baby blanket. The blanket was hand knit with shades of blue yarn and had his initials stitched into the right hand corner of it. Pepper lifts the blanket indulgently to her face and takes a small smell, a smile coming to her lips when she finds the scents still in tact, even after probably twenty years of sitting in a box. She could detect the tell tale baby smell, a soft whiff of laundry detergent, and the smell of roses. Tony had mentioned to her years before when she was picking up his room and had found an old bottle of perfume tucked away with his toiletries that his mother always smelled like roses. Pepper folds the blanket and drapes it over the foot of the bed before taking out the clothes, surprised to find that most of them were in good condition and looked quite stylish by today's standards. Pepper sets the clothes that were in good condition on the bed, folded up before putting the others into the empty box that sat by her side. She sifts through the toys and, after tugging out the bunny, made a note to have Dummy put the box downstairs, figuring Tony could probably do something with them there. She closes the box and nudges it away pulling up another box that rattled as she moved it. Lifting the flaps of the cardboard she was shocked to find white wood sections inside. She shuffles them around a little bit and determined that it was the pieces to construct a crib, Tony's crib. Pepper closes the box and pushes it to the opposite side she'd pushed the toys pulling up the next box finding pieces for a rocking chair, this time a chocolate colored wood. That box gets pushed next to the crib and Pepper opens the rest of the boxes, finding miscellaneous knick-knacks and books. She puts them onto the bookshelf; organizing them in a tasteful manner before having Butterfingers take away the empty boxes and having Dummy get the toys downstairs. Once those boxes disappear Pepper boxes up the clothes of Tony's that weren't in good condition and takes them to her office, putting them on the desk before going back to the bedroom and sinking back down on the floor, putting a pillow behind her for support as she starts to go through the pictures that filled it.

Pepper found a variety of pictures as she went through them, tackling the albums first. There were pictures of Tony as a baby, toddler, child, and as a teenager, the last picture in the album was from his graduation at MIT. Pepper closes the album and notices in the slot on the front is a copy of Tony's birth announcement and in the back is a picture of his diploma. The binding had his full name printed with gold on it. Pepper sets it on the shelf and opens the next one, finding a bunch of miscellaneous pictures of Tony's parents, determining that it was pictures of their courtship, wedding, and honeymoon, and a few years after. The album goes next to the one of Tony before Pepper opens the last one which was more of a scrapbook of Tony and Howard's accomplishments filled with article clippings, letter copies, and a few pictures. Setting that by her side Pepper starts to go through the loose pictures, organizing them before going downstairs to get empty albums and empty frames she knew were stuffed into a closet. She brings a small stack upstairs and puts her favorite pictures into the frames before filling the albums and putting them next to the old ones. Taking the frames Pepper puts one of Tony as a baby on the bedside table in the room before taking a couple to their bedroom and setting them up around the room before taking the last one downstairs and putting it in the kitchen on the counter. The last one was a particular favorite of hers. It was Maria and Tony in the kitchen when Tony was five or six and his small eyes were peaking over the counter as she rolled out cookie dough, a hand reaching out to try and grab some of the scrap dough. Pepper lets out another smile as she looks at the picture before jumping when she hears the door shut and becomes perfectly still as Tony walks past. Just as she's about to let out a breath she hears his Italian leather shoes back up and stop at the doorway to the kitchen. Pepper lets out a sheepish smile as she looks over her shoulder.

"Hi honey." Tony makes a face as he looks at Pepper.

"You are supposed to be in bed." Pepper shrugs as she turns around and walks over to Tony, wrapping her arms around him.

"I got restless. So I thought I'd organize."

"Organize." Tony kisses Pepper's lips softly.

"You had surgery yesterday and you thought you'd organize." Pepper nods and kisses Tony back, holding him close.

"Yep. Dummy and Butterfingers helped me. Wanna see?" Pepper takes Tony's hand and drags him upstairs to the now almost empty bedroom.

"This is going to be the baby's room. We're going to set up your crib and rocking chair and take the bed out and…yeah…" Pepper smiles at Tony.

"You organized my stuff." Pepper bites her lip as she looks up at Tony, realizing that might not have been a great idea.

"Yeah. I organized the videos on the shelf and the pictures and books…your baby clothes can go in the dresser and the baby can wear them and I found your blanket and bunny. Dummy took your old toys downstairs, I figured you'd want to take care of those."

"I forgot I had most of this stuff in here." Tony sits down on the bed and pats the spot next to him. Pepper sits down and Tony grabs one of the onsies that was on the bed next to him, laying it over Pepper's belly.

"Looks a little big." Pepper laughs and kisses Tony.

"Give it a few months." Tony smiles and folds the piece of clothing back up putting it in the pile.

"Are we finding out what we're having?" Pepper nods and rubs her belly softly, careful of her stitches.

"Yeah I'd like to. Do you?"

"Sure."

"Okay." Pepper leans over and kisses Tony.

"I love you Anthony Stark." Tony smiles brightly and kisses Pepper.

"I love you too Virginia Stark."


	4. Chapter 4

After her appendectomy Pepper knew she needed to go shopping for maternity clothes that weren't from her husband's closet. Approaching the subject with Tony was another matter. It wasn't that she needed permission necessarily to go shopping, but she wanted him to come with her, and that was where the trouble lay. Pepper steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around her body before grabbing one for her hair, toweling it out as she walks to the bedroom.

"Tony, baby…darling." Tony's eyebrow arches from behind his glasses and the book he was reading.

"What do you want?" Pepper shakes out her ginger hair and runs a brush through it before discarding both of her towels and standing in front of her dresser, looking for a night shirt before grabbing Tony's old MIT shirt that she'd adopted into her wardrobe.

"I need to go shopping, for clothes…maternity clothes…and I was wondering if you could come with." Pepper slips on a pair of underwear and tosses her towels into the dirty laundry before sinking into bed and looking over at Tony, his arc reactor working as his book light.

"You want me to go shopping with you?" Pepper nods as she rolls onto her side, reaching out and stroking Tony's chest.

"We could stop by Victoria's Secret or La Perla…you could pick out your birthday present and we could go out for dinner." Tony nods slowly.

"Okay. When are we going?"

"Tomorrow? We don't have any meetings, we're caught up…perfect day."

"Sounds good." Tony smiles and leans over kissing Pepper. He closes his book and tosses it on the floor next to the bed along with his glasses a moment later.

"Come're." Pepper smiles and scoots closer to Tony, kissing him softly as she hooks a leg around his hip.

"What can I do for you Mr. Stark?" Tony kisses Pepper deeply and holds her close.

"I've missed you Mrs. Stark." Pepper smiles and blushes, burying her face into Tony's neck.

"I'm sorry, I haven't been…"

"Hey you don't need to apologize." Tony smiles and slips his hand under the t-shirt cupping Pepper's belly for a moment before continuing up and pushing the shirt off. Pepper reaches down and pushes Tony's underwear off. She pushes him onto his back and kisses him deeply as she sits astride him. Tony smiles up at Pepper and puts his hands on her stomach, rubbing softly before slipping his hands up to her breasts. Pepper whimpers softly and arches into Tony's hands as her own brace herself on his chest. She rubs herself against him softly and sinks onto his hard erection after slipping her underwear out of the way. Tony himself lets out a loud groan this time arching his back into Pepper's hips. Pepper reaches down and threads her fingers with Tony's leaning over him as she starts to move. She presses her lips to his and moans softly, enjoying the feel of him inside of her. A squeal escapes Pepper as Tony rolls them over, taking the movement of their sex into his own hands. Pepper moans as Tony's stubble scrapes over her sensitive skin, his hips tilting at the perfect angle at the perfect time. Before she knew it he was pushing her over the peak and she was screaming his name as she came, her body arched into his and her belly pressed against his abs.

"Pepper!" Tony lets out a low groan as he feels her body clench around his, cumming hard. He jerks erratically a few times before sinking against Pepper and rolling to her side, holding her tight to him.

"Wow." Pepper nods and takes a deep breath smiling at Tony as she strokes his cheek.

"You're amazing." Tony smiles and kisses Pepper softly.

"Thank you." Pepper curls up against Tony and nuzzles her nose into his neck before falling asleep; she needed to get her rest for shopping the next day.

..ironman

Tony yawns as he gets out of the car; glad Pepper had bought him Starbucks on the way to the street they were shopping on even if she couldn't drink it herself. He takes a large gulp of the hot liquid and walks with her into a maternity shop, taking another drink as he looks around, taking in the clothes and the other women that were in the store. He follows behind Pepper obediently and quietly as she looks around the store, getting work clothes, casual things, as well as some bras before getting a dressing room set up for herself. She makes Tony sit down in a chair outside before going and starting to try things on, coming out in each outfit to show Tony and get his opinion. He approves of most of the items and vetos a few before Pepper curls her finger at him and holds the door to her dressing room open wider. Tony grins as he gets up and slips inside before sitting on the bench, watching as Pepper undresses before starting to model the bras that she'd picked out for him. A smile takes over Tony's face as he sits back watching as she changes through the five bras, detailing the finer points of them. Once she finishes she looks at Tony expectantly.

"All of them." Pepper rolls her eyes with a smile and takes the bra off before putting her own back on, asking Tony to pass her her clothes. Tony hands over her jeans before handing her the top. He stands up and kisses her softly once she's dressed, rubbing her belly affectionately.

"So are we done or are we getting more?"

"There's another shop I want to go to, and after that I wanted to look at some baby stuff. And then we're going to go get your birthday present." Tony nods and leaves the dressing room, helping Pepper with all of the clothes before taking them to the register to pay. Pepper starts digging in her purse for her wallet as they wait for everything to be rung up. Tony stops her and smiles.

"I've got it babe." Pepper arches her eyebrow and says nothing at the babe comment, thanking Tony softly before kissing his shoulder. She thanks the woman after she bags all of the clothes up taking the two bags from her before walking out of the store with Tony. She leans into him softly as they walk down the sidewalk.

"This is nice." Tony nods and wraps an arm around Pepper smiling at her from beneath his sunglasses.

"So, I'm assuming you've gone over the requests from magazines that I brought home the other day." Pepper nods and smiles.

"Yeah I've organized and responded and put the ones that I chose into our schedule."

"Which ones did we choose?"

"Well." Pepper says with a suspense filled tone and grins at Tony as she indicates the store they were going into.

"I accepted the photo shoot for next month from Vanity Fair…and before you say that's a bad idea they've canned Everhart. It's going to just be a photo shoot and interview at the house for the day. Then I've accepted one to do an editorial blog kind of thing for the last two months of the pregnancy and the first month the baby's here from People…I was waffling on who got the first pictures of the baby, but I ended up accepting Vanity Fair in the long run because they made a deal that they would donate twenty percent of their proceeds from the magazine sales that month to our children's charity." Tony holds the door open for Pepper and follows her into the store, happy to find that this store lacked the pastels that the last one had.

"What about the other ones?" Pepper looks up at Tony as she holds her bags out to him so she could look around.

"What other ones?"

"The ones that you got from probably half a dozen of what I'm assuming are maternity clothes companies." Pepper shrugs slightly as she starts to look through clothes.

"You know I'm not interested in doing that…"

"Why not?"

"For one we don't need the money from it."

"So get them to donate it to a charity." Tony leans against a rack and watches Pepper, "What's reason two?"

"I'm not model material Tony." Tony pushes his sunglasses up and arches his eyebrow at his wife.

"I'm sorry did you just say that you're not model material?"

"I'm not!" Pepper hands Tony some clothes to hold onto.

"Ignoring the fact that you're completely tall enough for it. You're hotter than most models, you've got legs that go on for miles, a smile that could take down a horse, and you make walking around in six inch heels look like basic math…you're perfect for modeling. I don't know why you didn't do it before." Pepper takes the stack of clothes from Tony and goes into a dressing room.

"Because I went to college."

"I went to college and I've done modeling."

"I don't know Tony! I just…don't feel right doing it." Pepper comes out in a new dress, turning around and flicking her hair out of the way.

"Will you zip me up?" Tony zips up Pepper's dress and watches as she looks herself over in the mirror.

"I'll do _one_ but you have to go with me."

"Sure." Pepper turns to look at Tony.

"I look fat."

"Pep, you don't look fat you look pregnant."

"So I'm fat!" Pepper huffs and storms into the dressing room, stripping off the offending dress.

"Pepper, you are not fat." Pepper wrinkles her nose as she tries on the next dress, not even bothering to come out.

"This is horrible, I don't even know why I agreed to go to that stupid MIT fundraiser with you when I look like a freaking cow!" Pepper stomps out in the next dress, a navy blue number. She turns her back wordlessly for Tony to zip her up. Tony kisses her neck softly as he zips the dress up.

"You don't look like a cow, you can barely tell you're pregnant. And you agreed for us to go before we knew we were having a baby." Tony squeezes Pepper and looks her over in the dress.

"I like this one. It brings out your eyes." Pepper blushes, partly from Tony complimenting her, but mostly from her outburst.

"You like this?" Tony nods and kisses Pepper's neck softly again.

"Very much. Do you?" Pepper nods.

"Yeah." 

"So get it." Pepper nods obediently, her mind starting to switch from wanting to strangle her husband for getting her pregnant to wanting to drag him home.

"Okay."

"Is there anything else you want to try on?" Pepper shakes her head and smiles at Tony softly.

"No."

"Okay, give me the clothes you want and get dressed while I get it for you." Pepper hands Tony a few items before handing him the dress a moment later. Tony takes the clothes to the register and pays for them, thanking the cashier when she hands him another bag. Pepper comes up behind Tony and wraps her arms around his middle.

"Hi."

"Hello darling." Tony shifts slightly and wraps his arm around Pepper.

"You said something about shopping for the baby?"

"Yeah there's a place a couple stores down that I wanted to look at." Tony nods and leads Pepper out of the store and down the block. Pepper looks up at Tony

"You're sure you're fine with the baby using your old stuff right?" Tony nods.

"Of course I'm fine with it, besides then we shouldn't need too many things."

"Okay…" Pepper says with a tone of apprehension, knowing they still needed a lot of things.

"What do we need?" Tony asks as they walk into the store that Pepper wanted to go to. He looks around and his head swims slightly with all of the bright colors and small things.

"A cradle for our bedroom, a changing table, a mobile, toys, clothes, bottles, blankets…stroller, car seat…" Pepper shrugs as she looks up at Tony.

"Just because we're using your stuff doesn't mean we don't need stuff…you know?" Tony nods.

"Did you want to get it all today or…"

"No I just wanted to look at a few things." Pepper smiles and kisses Tony before starting to look around the store. She makes a few high-pitched squeals as she looks at the tiny baby things, holding them up for Tony to look at. They end up leaving the store with a couple pieces of gender-neutral clothing and a stuffed rabbit extremely similar to the one that was Tony's when he was a baby. As they leave the store Pepper wraps an arm around Tony's waist and kisses the shell of his ear softly.

"So. Lingerie?"

"Sounds delicious." Tony smiles and turns, kissing Pepper softly before dragging her into La Perla a few stores later. Pepper laughs softly and rolls her eyes as Tony starts to eagerly point out things that he likes. Pepper takes a few things to try on, deciding to keep what she decided on a secret from her husband so there was a bit of mystery to Tony's birthday evening. She returns from the back of the store with a small bag and a smile on her face as she wraps her arm around Tony.

"You'll have to wait until next week to see what you got." Pepper tugs the bag away from Tony's prying eyes, not before he could get a glimpse of the dark teal silk inside. As she hides the bag Pepper looks up at Tony imploringly.

"I'm hungry and you promised dinner." Tony rolls his eyes with a smile.

"What are you and the offspring hungry for?"

"Hmm…sushi." Pepper hands Tony her bags except for the lingerie.

"You can't eat raw fish."

"They have cooked things. Please?" Pepper pouts at Tony, grinning when he nods and leads her into a sushi restaurant across the street. They end up with a table out on the patio in the shade, Pepper rubbing her belly softly as she looks at her menu. Once the waitress comes over Tony orders a small sake for himself and Pepper gets an iced tea. Pepper tells Tony she knows what she wants when the waitress comes back. Tony orders a large amount of sashimi along with two maki before the waitress turns to Pepper. Pepper smiles softly and starts to order.

"Can I get ten pieces of the cooked ebi sashimi and two maki? One with the softshell crab, avocado, cucumber, and cream cheese and is there anyway I could get the other with seared tuna and avocado, and cucumber…and actually can I get a third one with beef, tempura chicken, anddd cucumber, avocado, and cream cheese. All three of them with a big serving of the roe…if it's pasteurized." The waitress looks at Pepper with wide eyes for a moment before nodding.

"Sure we can do that."

"Thank you." The waitress makes her escape before Pepper can ask for more food as Tony grins at his wife from behind his sunglasses.

"Three rolls, and sashimi?" Pepper shrugs and smiles as she chases her straw with her tongue before taking a big drink.

"I'm hungry. It's your fault anyway." Tony arches his eyebrow.

"My fault?" Pepper nods and winks at Tony with a grin.

"You're the one that got me pregnant."


	5. Chapter 5

"Oh what the hell!" Tony looks up as he hears Pepper curse from the kitchen, in the middle of getting ready for work. He finishes doing his tie and gives his hair one last look before heading downstairs and into the kitchen to find his wife ready for work and looking at the news on the kitchen counter.

"What?" Pepper enlarges the picture and article and flicks it to be projected onto the cupboard next to Tony.

"They're criticizing me for eating sushi yesterday even though all of it was cooked." Tony skims through the reading before closing out of it.

"Who cares what they say? You know it was cooked and I know it was cooked." Pepper looks at Tony with anger simmering in her eyes.

"My doctor left me five voicemails this morning lecturing me about how raw fish could cause an arm to grow out of our baby's head."

"Really?" Tony asks intrigued.

"Tony! They all think I'm an idiot!"

"So have PR release a statement that says that your food was cooked and you didn't consume any raw seafood." Tony kisses Pepper's head softly and smiles.

"That's what they're paid for." Pepper makes a small sound and nods.

"Are you ready to go?" Pepper nods again and grabs her bag, heading out to the car to meet Happy, already clicking away on her Blackberry. Tony follows behind her and puts on his sunglasses as the Malibu sun beats down on the mansion.

"Happy Birthday Mr. Stark." Tony accepts the birthday wish and thanks Happy before getting into the car with Pepper. Pepper's phone vibrates as she's typing and she pauses for a moment before looking at Tony.

"It's your birthday."

"It is my birthday, imagine that, same day as last year." Tony grins feeding her her own line back to her. Pepper rolls her eyes and kisses Tony slowly and deeply. She pulls back slightly and pouts.

"I'm sorry I forgot this morning."

"It's okay, we've got plenty of time, before, during, and after my party." Tony grins.

"Ah yes, the famous Stark Birthday Party." Pepper sinks back into her seat and strokes her belly softly, a slight pout on her lips.

"I promise, I won't get drunk at all…besides it's mostly for other people than it is for me. Spending my time with you is what is for me." Tony wraps an arm around Pepper and kisses her lips softly.

"Promise?" Tony nods and Pepper smiles. Both of them look down when her stomach growls before Tony looks at Pepper.

"Did you eat this morning?" Pepper blushes and looks down shaking her head.

"I was going to make breakfast but then I got distracted by the news…" Tony sighs and rubs Pepper's belly.

"You still need to eat. Happy stop somewhere that serves breakfast."

"The next place coming up is a bagel shop." Tony looks at Pepper.

"That's fine Happy, thanks." Pepper waits until they stop before getting out.

"Are you coming?" Tony nods and gets out, telling Happy they'd be just a couple minutes. Once they get inside Tony takes off his sunglasses and looks around before watching Pepper as she looks at the menu.

"What looks good?"

"Everything." Pepper smiles at Tony as she pulls her eyes away from the menu.

"Do you want a bagel or a bagel sandwich?"

"Sandwich." Pepper nods and they move forward in the line to the register. She orders a bacon, egg, and cheese for Tony on an egg bagel, before getting a ham and egg with tomatoes and avocados for herself on a sesame bagel.

"And can you change your gloves and use clean utensils please, she's allergic to strawberries." Tony speaks up when he sees a small container of the offending red berries and finds strawberry cream cheese on the menu. The college kid behind the counter nods and rings them out before going to make their sandwiches, changing his gloves and grabbing new knives before he starts. Pepper turns to look at Tony and smiles at him, kissing him softly.

"You remembered."

"Of course I remembered. I try to make it a habit to remember the foods that might kill my wife." Tony kisses Pepper and rubs her belly as they wait. After a few minutes they're handed a bag with their sandwiches in it. Pepper takes it and gives it to Tony before walking out to the car with him and getting back in. She puts her seatbelt on and holds her hand out for her sandwich. Tony peaks into the wrappings before handing Pepper the right sandwich. She unwraps the paper before starting to eat, making a delighted sound as the food starts to satisfy her hunger.

..ironman

Pepper sighs quietly as she zips her dress up; making sure the strapless short black dress was smoothed out in all the right places. Running her hands over her belly, Pepper smiles softly before turning to the mirror and touching up her makeup from earlier in the day. Once she finishes she runs her fingers through her curls and pads back to the bedroom. She picks up the discarded and torn lingerie on the floor of the bedroom. Tony had torn the teal silk from her body, $1200 down the toilet.

"At least he enjoyed it while I had it on." Pepper says as she tosses it into the trash before grabbing her black patent leather Louboutin's from her closet. She slips them on to her stocking covered feet before clacking her way downstairs, meeting Tony in the living room where he was finishing up a scotch.

"Ready to go?" Tony nods. He sets his glass down on the tray that Dummy was holding and pats the robot on the 'head'.

"Good boy." Tony was clad in the black striped tux he wore to the expo. Pepper straightens his bowtie and smiles at him stroking his freshly shaved cheek.

"Such a handsome birthday boy." Tony rolls his eyes and kisses Pepper before leading her out to the car. Pepper looks up at Tony as they walk up to his new car that he'd treated himself to as a birthday present earlier in the month so he had time to work on it. The car was a Weissman, at least that's what Tony had told her. It'd be launched as a concept but he'd talked the company into making a reality for him, getting a custom engine put into it and gunmetal grey paint job.

"We're driving ourselves?" Tony nods and opens Pepper's door for her.

"Yeah, I wanna get this thing out onto the road." Pepper smiles and sinks into the car, pulling on her seatbelt as Tony closes the door.

"Jarvis, can you start Tony's drive mix please?"

"Certainly, Mrs. Stark." Jarvis starts the music as Tony gets into the car and buckles up before starting the engine. He presses on the gas a few times before shifting the gear and taking off. Pepper sighs as the warm early summer wind blows her hair around as they work their way down the PCH. Her hand drifts over and rests on Tony's thigh as he drives, squeezing softly. Tony covers Pepper's hand with his free hand and squeezes her fingers before taking the exit they needed. They pull up to the club they were having his party at a few moments later and Tony gets out, handing the keys to a valet before going around and opening Pepper's door for her. He helps her out of the car and puts a hand on her waist before starting to walk down the black carpet that had been rolled out. The pair walks slowly, stopping for pictures and interviews before heading inside where the party was practically in full swing. Pepper stays glued to Tony's side as they make their rounds around the room, occasionally pausing for photos for the press that had been allowed in. After a little while Tony gets a bottle of water for Pepper and one for himself before heading up to the DJ booth with her, loving the smile on her lips as he spins records with DJ AM for a little while before patting his friend on the back and taking her back downstairs, tugging her to the dance floor.

"Tony, no!"

"Come on, Pepperpot. Dance with me." Pepper rolls her eyes before taking Tony's hand and starting to dance with him. Tony smiles and dances with Pepper for a while before she excuses herself to go to the bathroom, working her way to the back of the club. After using the facilities she checks her makeup in the mirror and drinks the rest of the water in her bottle before tossing it in the trash and heading back out to the dance floor to find Tony. She finds him around where she left him dancing with a model that had been hired for one of their newer advertising campaigns. Pepper felt her jealousy rise before realizing that they weren't all over each other and from what she could tell they were talking business. Pepper comes up behind Tony and wraps an arm around him, smiling and introducing herself to the young girl across from them.

"Pep, this is Sarah. She works in our graphics department, designed my birthday invites." Tony remarks as he pulls the invitation that was sent out to the rest of the crowd out of his suit jacket.

"Wow. I thought you…"

"I just started doing some modeling for the company too. But I have a masters in graphic design, so needless to say it's something I like to do." Pepper nods and smiles.

"Sarah was actually just telling me that she had some ideas for the expo logo."

"Really?" Sarah nods.

"Yeah, I've sent them to the Expo Committee, but I'd be happy to print you up your own copies Mr. Stark."

"That sounds great. Send them up to my office I'll be happy to take a look at them."

"Will do." Pepper squeezes Tony's side indicating that they needed to move on.

"Thanks for the dance Sarah."

"Pleasure was all mine, Mr. Stark." Pepper leads Tony away and looks up at her husband.

"You are…you don't even know that you flirt do you?"

"What? I was being nice."

"_You_ were flirting."

"I was not." Pepper shakes her head with a smile and kisses Tony.

"It's time to cut your cake."

"Ooo cake." Pepper leads Tony over to a table where a miniature Ironman replica cake was waiting for them, complete with a fake arc reactor and light up hand repulsors.

"Oh this is sweet." Tony walks around the cake a couple times before taking a knife from a waitress that worked at the club. He makes a crazy face before slicing off part of the head onto a plate. He hands the knife back to the waitress before grabbing a fork and taking a bite.

"Mmm. My head is chocolaty." Tony forks off another bite and holds it out to Pepper, smiling as she takes the bite off the end of the fork, her glossy lips closing around the silver before slipping off.

"Mmm…I wish your real head tasted like that." Pepper grins and takes another bite before sitting down with Tony in the VIP area. She leans over occasionally for a bite of cake as Tony and her finish the piece off before the plate is discarded on the table and Tony pulls Pepper onto his lap.

"Have I told you how sexy you look tonight Mrs. Stark?"

"No, Mr. Stark, you haven't."

"Hmm…well you look ravishingly sexy." Tony rubs his hand over Pepper's thigh and curls his fingers around the pale flesh by the hem of her dress.

"When can I take you home?" Pepper runs her fingers through Tony's hair and smiles at him.

"Half an hour, you still have to make your birthday speech."

"Is this club dark enough for me to do that with a raging hard on?" Tony grins and waggles his eyebrows at Pepper and slips his hand under her dress, but gets stopped after a couple inches. 

"You'll stop if you know what's good for you."

"What's under that dress is what's good for me." Pepper laughs softly and kisses Tony.

"If I've told you once I've told you a million times, I don't want to see my ass plastered all over the Gazette tomorrow because you couldn't wait to get home." Tony pouts.

"Why are you so mean to the birthday boy?"

"Because I love him." Pepper kisses Tony softly before sliding off his lap.

"Go mingle, I'm going to rest here." Tony shakes his head.

"I'm enjoying the company right here." Tony wraps an arm around Pepper's shoulder and smiles as she settles into the crook of his collarbone. A few people stop by to talk to Tony over the next half hour before Pepper nudges him and tells him that he needs to make his speech. Tony pries himself off the couch and takes Pepper's hand, walking back up to the DJ stand with her. He takes the microphone as the music cuts out and the lights brighten marginally. Everyone turns to look at the stage and Tony starts to give his basic speech about getting another year older and becoming an old man before switching to something new.

"I have a lot more to be thankful for this year though. I have an amazing wife that helps me run the family business. And soon we're going to have a baby." Tony wraps an arm around Pepper and kisses her softly before rubbing her belly.

"I love you guys." Pepper smiles back at Tony.

"We love you too." Tony turns back to the crowd.

"Everyone have a great time tonight, there's cake and champagne, plenty of single people. I for one am going to have to leave all you amazing people, and celebrate the rest of my birthday with my wife." Tony hands the microphone back to the DJ and starts making his way out of the club with Pepper. Once they get back outside they get to the car and Tony opens Pepper's door for her once again. She kisses him softly before slipping inside, waiting for him to get in the other side.

"So, are we going home?" Tony nods and squeezes Pepper's hand as he starts to drive. Once they pull into the complex Tony parks the car downstairs before getting out and helping Pepper out. He shuts the door before leaning down and kissing her softly. Pepper smiles at Tony when she pulls back from the kiss.

"I've got a present for you."

"I thought I already had my present earlier."

"That was one of them, but I got you something else." Pepper opens up a drawer in Tony's desk and pulls out a box before giving it to him. Tony sits down on his chair and tugs the blue bow off of it before tearing the black paper off. Beneath the paper was a handcrafted wood box stained a dark chocolate color.

"Butterfingers helped me with some of the woodwork." Pepper sits on the corner of Tony's desk, watching as he opens the box. Inside she'd included his mother's recipe cards that she'd found while cleaning the kitchen one day as well as a short stack of his favorite pictures, including ones of their relationship as well as ones from his childhood. Also inside was the watch his parents had gotten him for graduation as well as the boxes for his wedding band and his brass rat.

"I figured you could use it for keep sakes and stuff. And anytime you want me to I'd be happy to make your favorite." Tony sifts through the items for a few moments before looking up at Pepper and smiling.

"I've never been called nostalgic."

"Who said I was calling you nostalgic?" Pepper smiles and takes the box from Tony, putting it on his desk before kissing him deeply and slowly.

"Take me upstairs Birthday Boy and ravish me."


	6. Chapter 6

Tony was in his workshop fiddling around on his computer in boredom. Pepper was at her prenatal appointment but told Tony he didn't need to come since she wasn't getting an ultrasound that day. That was two hours ago. Ten minutes ago she'd messaged him and said she was going to lunch with a friend that was in town and that she'd be home by dinner…five hours away. Tony lets out another sigh before the idea strikes him, build something for the baby. Tony marks out various plans for baby related projects before starting to work. A few hours later Pepper comes home and is greeted by Jarvis before being told that Tony was in the nursery awaiting her arrival home. Pepper sets her purse and bags down and goes upstairs to the nursery, gasping when she sees what Tony had accomplished while she was gone.

"So what do you think?" All of the furniture now matched the same shade of white. Tony had completed a changing table that looked like it had a few extras, as well as a mobile that looked like it would serve a purpose for the baby for at least a year, and a cradle next to the bed that rocked back and forth with the help of a mini Dummy that Tony had extra downstairs.

"It's great, you did all this?" Tony nods and pulls Pepper into the room and over to the changing table.

"The little bed thing is heated at a constant temperature safe for the baby. There's a wipe warmer and a bottle warmer, and the fridge is for us to store extra bottles in." Tony turns Pepper around and shows her the cradle.

"Just a normal cradle with a baby camera built in here." Tony points to the wall of the cradle next to where the baby's head would be.

"And Mini Rocker functions by the click of a button. He plays music and rocks on a timer and gentleness setting." Tony picks the mobile up off of it's holder and explains that it would function to develop the baby's eyes with the color scheme and that the toys would detach once the baby got older so it could play with them.

"Oh, and this plays music too." Tony pauses and looks at Pepper.

"I did okay right?"

"Tony this is amazing." Pepper kisses Tony softly and smiles at him.

"The baby is so lucky to have you for his daddy." Tony pulls back from their embrace slightly and looks down at Pepper.

"He?" Pepper nods and smiles.

"Yeah…the doctor had a few extra minutes today and she did a quick ultrasound. They are 100% certain that we are having a baby boy." Tony squeezes Pepper and spins her around quick before setting her down.

"I'm going to take that as happy." Pepper smiles and lets out a squeal as Tony tugs her shirt up from her belly pressing a loud kiss to it as his goatee tickles her skin. After he finishes Pepper wraps her arms around Tony and kisses him once again.

"Thank you for that…and all of this."

"You're welcome…both of you." Tony holds Pepper for a while and pulls away when she speaks.

"I brought dinner home, are you hungry?"

"Starving."

"Come on, you go get cleaned up grease monkey and I'll heat up our food." Tony smiles and kisses Pepper before going to shower. Pepper takes one more look at the nursery before going downstairs to the kitchen and starting to heat up her and Tony's dinner. Tony pads downstairs after his shower in jeans, holding his t-shirt in his hands. He tugs the shirt over his head and walks into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around Pepper's waist and putting his hands on her belly, rubbing softly.

"What's on the menu this evening my darling?"

"Mmm. Well I got you a cheeseburger, with fries of course." Pepper hands Tony his plate and kisses him softly before making her own plate.

"What about you?"

"Dinner that's undoing fifteen years of eating right." Pepper licks her thumb clean of sauce.

"Fettucini alfredo, chicken wings, extra spicy, and French fries fried in duck fat with chili on them and guacamole to dip them in."

"I don't think craving even begins to cover that." Tony grins and grabs a beer from the fridge and a bottle of juice for Pepper.

"What do you want to do for tonight?"

"I wanna watch our wedding video."

"Our wedding video?"

"Actually all of our home videos." Pepper eats a fry as she wanders to the living room.

"I'm feeling nostalgic." Pepper sinks onto the couch and crosses her legs. She shifts her hips out slightly and puts the plate on her stomach. Tony opens their home videos on the table and starts to play them. Pepper grins and laughs as they watch the videos, occasionally tearing up. She sets her plate aside once she finishes eating, snuggling into Tony. Tony groans as the video of move in day comes on.

"You know you loved the day I moved in with my twenty boxes of shoes."

"Don't remind me, I still have nightmares." Tony mock shudders and Pepper giggles. The two of them watch as all of the boxes are moved into Tony's bedroom before being unloaded and organized into the closet he'd made for Pepper. The entire time Pepper is explaining her shoe collection to Tony. The end of the video had curled up Tony on the floor of the closet asleep.

"Two hundred and forty seven pairs of shoes Pepper."

"I like shoes!" Pepper leans up and kisses Tony.

"You like that I like shoes."

"I do like that you like shoes. Especially when you just wear shoes." Pepper grins and giggles.

"Now see I like this video more." Tony says as he indicates the screen where their wedding video was starting.

"Best day of my life." Pepper nods in agreement and wraps an arm around Tony's back as her face presses into his chest. The wedding ceremony itself had been small, 40 of their closest family and friends on the Stark mansion roundabout under a tent. The decorations were simple. Tony had worn a classic tux and had Happy and Rhodey stand in as his groomsmen. Her bridesmaids were her friends from college, dressed in simple black cocktail dresses. Pepper was dressed in a strapless white gown that had simple decoration on it and she'd carried lilies. They'd exchanged hand written vows and rings. Tony wore his father's wedding ring and she had his mother's full set. Pepper sniffles and lets out a small sob as they kiss on screen.

"Oh Pep." Tony wraps his arm around Pepper and kisses her head.

"Shhh."

"Sorry." Pepper clears her throat and wipes her face off a few moments later.

"It's okay, I know I look sexy, but it's nothing to cry over." Pepper laughs softly, hitting Tony's abs as the video to their reception switches on. The reception was by far bigger with approximately a thousand people in attendance. Tony gets up and holds his hand out to Pepper, pulling her up off the couch and wrapping his arms around her. They start to sway in time to the music and the couple on the screen.

"Provided we aren't in the hospital having our baby, we should go away for our anniversary like for the weekend."

"That sounds nice." Pepper lays her head on Tony's chest and smiles, quiet for a moment.

"Tony?"

"Yeah, love?"

"I think we should have the baby in New York."

"You do?"

"Mmhm." Pepper lets out a squeal and giggles as Tony spins her.

"You were born in New York."

"I was."

"And we're having a boy, so I figured he could be born in the same place as his daddy."

"That'd be great." Pepper pulls back and puts her hands on her belly with a frown.

"Pepper! What is it? Is it the baby?"

"Yeah but…" Pepper looks up at Tony and her face bursts into a grin.

"He's kicking." Pepper reaches out and grabs Tony's hand, putting it on her belly. Tony stands still for a few moments before bursting into a grin as well.

"That's my boy." Pepper giggles once more.

"It tickles." Pepper covers Tony's hand and looks into his eyes.

"What do you want to name him?" 

"I don't know, what were you thinking? You've known about this a bit longer." Pepper pulls Tony closer and kisses him softly before pulling back.

"Anthony."

"What?" Pepper rolls her eyes and smiles.

"I want our son to be your junior."

"You do?" Pepper nods and smiles.

"Yeah do you not want to?"

"No, no, that's nice…it sounds good." Pepper frowns and pulls her hand from Tony's stroking his cheek.

"What is it baby?"

"I don't know…it just doesn't sound right."

"Well what sounds right to you Mr. Stark?"

"Rocket?" Pepper laughs.

"We aren't naming our baby Rocket." Tony pouts and Pepper smiles at him, kissing his pouty lips softly.

"So cute when you pout."

"Iron Man is not cute."

"No, but Tony Stark is." Tony leans down to kiss Pepper when Jarvis interrupts them.

"Sir? Mr. Fury is calling." Tony sighs and pulls away from Pepper.

"Put him up in the workshop. I'll take it down there." Pepper offers Tony a chaste kiss before nudging him downstairs, starting to clean up their dinner dishes. Tony had been on two missions since they had found out Pepper was pregnant, and she suspected that there was a Stark ultimatum involved somewhere. Pepper had taken up residence on the couch with her paperwork and a bowl of ice cream when Tony came back upstairs. She tilts her head softly as he kisses her neck.

"I have to go for a little while." Pepper looks up at Tony and kisses his lips.

"Be careful."

"You take it easy and go to bed on time; don't stay up waiting on me. I'll call when I'm on my way home."

"Okay." Tony leans further over the couch and kisses Pepper's belly before kissing her once more.

"I love you."

"I love you too, now go save the world." Tony smiles before retreating downstairs once more, the soft 'boom' of him leaving filling the quiet air a few moments later. Pepper sighs and rubs her belly before returning to her work and snack. Several hours later Pepper awakes from a dead sleep as she hears a crash in the basement. She gets up from the couch, where she'd fallen asleep watching a movie, and approaches the stairs listening for a moment before going down. She finds Tony laying on the platform in a heap of red and gold metal.

"Tony!" Pepper rushes over to Tony after putting her code in. She takes off his facemask and shakes him of softly.

"Tony! Can you hear me?" Tony makes a small sound and opens his eyes.

"Hey you. Can you stand up so we can get the suit off you?" Tony nods and manages to get into a standing position so the bots can take the suit off before sinking into Pepper.

"Come on big boy." Pepper does a quick inventory and is glad to find that Tony has just minor scratches and a few rough bumps and was most likely just exhausted from the mission. She helps him to the elevator and pushes the button to go to the bedroom. Once there she takes him to the bathroom and deposits him into the shower. Jarvis turns the shower on low and Pepper takes her clothes off before getting in with him. She cleans him up and kisses him softly before turning the water off. Helping her husband up she dries him off and deposits him in bed.

"Thank you baby."

"You're welcome, just stay awake for a few more moments." Pepper gets Tony a sports drink and a protein bar. She makes him eat half the bar and drink half of the liquid with a few aspirin before putting them on the bedside table for when he'd wake up later on in the evening.

"Sleep darling." Tony nods and closes his eyes, falling asleep immediately. Pepper rubs his chest softly for a while before covering him up. She gets dressed in Tony's t-shirt before climbing in bed next to him.


	7. Chapter 7

"I wanna finish the nursery today." Pepper says as she stands in the shower with Tony the next morning, enjoying the hot water beat down on her back as Tony washes her hair for her. She leans her hair back to rinse the shampoo out before putting her conditioner in and grabbing the loofah to wash Tony up.

"Okay what else do you want to do with it?"

"Paint it, get some clothes and toys in it." Pepper looks up at Tony as she pauses with the loofah next to the arc reactor.

"We have Vanity Fair coming next week and I want the nursery to be finished, or at least as close to as it can get."

"Okay, after we get out of the shower I'll get Dummy loaded up with some paint and have him paint the room while we go shopping okay?" Pepper nods and starts washing again before pausing once more.

"Dummy can paint?"

"He'll be able to in about an hour." Tony smiles and rinses off before getting out of the shower. He wraps a towel around his waist and holds a towel out for Pepper with a smile. Pepper wraps the towel around herself and kisses Tony.

"Thank you." Pepper pads to the bedroom after grabbing another towel for her hair. She towels her hair off as she stands in front of her clothes trying to decide what to wear. After a few minutes she puts both of her towels into the dirty laundry and puts on underwear and a bra before tugging jeans on and one of Tony's button up shirts. She buttons the shirt over her stomach and leaves a couple buttons open at the top before putting a pair of heels on that matched. She heads to the bathroom and blow dries her hair before flat ironing it into curls and putting it up in a pony tail. Pepper applies her makeup after her hair is out of her face before getting her phone from its charger and going downstairs, replying to emails on the way.

"We have to swing by the office while we're out, R and D need you for twenty minutes to go over some specs and there's paperwork you need to sign to get the ball rolling on new expo projects." Pepper talks as she comes into the office, finding Tony filling a bin attached to Dummy's base with blue paint. He fills the other one with white paint and puts the tops on them before making sure the tubes were pulling paint out of them.

"Pick a color any color." Tony says as he pulls up a floating color wheel of blue shades. Pepper walks closer and spins the wheel around a couple times before pulling out two swatches and blending them together.

"That one." Tony nods before imputing this mix into Dummy's code before saving and doing a full reboot of the robot. He pulls up the wireframe of the baby's room before indicating what got the shades of blue and what needed to stay clean from paint.

"Just this okay? Paint anything else and I'll make you into a diaper can." Tony saves the room to Dummy's memory before sending the robot upstairs. After cleaning off his hands and wiping his face off Tony looks at Pepper and smiles.

"Okay. You said something about work."

"Yes, we need to go by the office. You have to meet with R and D for twenty minutes and sign expo paperwork. _Before_ we go shopping." Tony makes a face.

"Do we have to?"

"Yes we have to." Pepper kisses Tony softly before heading for her car.

"Aw Pep why do we have to drive that thing?" Tony says as he grabs the keys for the Prius. Pepper holds her hand out for the keys as she looks at Tony unamused.

"Because you seem to have an aversion to buying a car that has trunk space." Pepper snaps the keys from Tony's hand before opening her back seat and putting all of the seats down so they had enough space to put everything they were planning on buying. She had bought the car a few years prior, not seeing a reason to pay outrageous prices for gas all the time when she only used her car on her time off, which when working for Tony stark was rare. Pepper shuts the back seat door before getting into the drivers seat, adjusting her seat back slightly for room for the baby. Tony makes another face before getting into the car and buckling his seatbelt. She turns the engine over and pulls out of her space, driving up the tunnel and out onto the streets of Malibu. She heads for the office and parks in the executive spot before turning the car off and getting out with Tony. Pepper follows Tony out to the Research and Development offices, sticking by his side quietly as he goes over numbers and diagrams with a few of the researchers before they head into the main building and up to the offices they needed to visit, Tony giving his signature along the way. Once they finish Pepper squeezes Tony's hand and smiles at him.

"Ready to go?"

"I am raring to go." Tony smiles and wraps an arm around Pepper's waist, leading her back out to their car. Pepper gives Tony a kiss before getting back into the drivers seat and starting the car heading for baby stores.

..ironman

Pepper lays the last onsie into the drawer before shutting it. She looks around the nursery and puts her hands on her stomach as she feels a sense of calm at finding all the nooks and crannies filled with clothes, toys, blankets, bottles…everything their baby would need. Pepper rubs her belly and sighs softly as she looks down at the bump.

"All it needs is you." Giving the room one last look Pepper leaves after turning the light off. She goes to the bedroom and finds Tony getting into bed.

"Hi sexy mama." Pepper rolls her eyes and blushes before changing into her pajamas and getting into bed next to Tony. She shifts close to him and settles into the right side of his body, her bump fitting against his abs. She looks up at him and traces his jaw softly before speaking in a low tone.

"Howard Anthony." Tony looks away from his book and down at Pepper.

"Howard Anthony?" Pepper nods and looks into Tony's brown eyes, stroking a finger across his eyebrow and down his cheek.

"That's what I wanna name the baby, Howard Anthony Stark." Tony nods and smiles.

"Sounds perfect." Pepper smiles and kisses Tony softly.

"Good." Tony kisses Pepper again and rests his hand against her stomach stroking softly.

"So beautiful." Pepper smiles against Tony's lips and wraps her arms around his neck.

"Mr. Stark. Are you trying to seduce me?" Tony nods and laughs softly. Pepper smiles and runs her hand through his hair as she pulls her closer, kissing him deeply.

"Seduce away. Mama needs a good seducing." Tony presses his lips to Pepper's neck as his hands dispose of her shorts and underwear. She untangles her fingers from his hair so he can get her shirt off, smiling at him after he tugs the fabric over her head. She nudges him away from her a couple inches so she can remove his clothes before pushing him fully down on his back. She kisses her way down his chest and casts her darkened blue eyes up at him with a hungry look before lowering her mouth onto his hard cock. Tony groans and threads his fingers in Pepper's hair, pulling her off.

"I'm doing the seducing." Pepper squeals as Tony flips them over, covering her body with his. The two of them get into a staring contest for a moment before Tony pulls his eyes away and starts to press his lips to Pepper's freckled skin. Soon her moans filled the silence of the room as he kept moving lower and lower.


	8. Chapter 8

Pepper was in the kitchen in jeans and a t-shirt, barefoot, making breakfast for her and Tony when the doorbell rang before Jarvis alerted them that the Vanity Fair team was there for the day. Pepper tells Jarvis to let them in and turns the burner off and puts the eggs onto the plate for Tony along with a couple pieces of toast and some fruit before putting the plate into his hands with a fork.

"Eat." Pepper kisses Tony before going to greet the entire team of people that had shown up at the house. She tells them that Jarvis was on hand to help them with anything they needed while they set up before returning to the kitchen and starting to eat her own breakfast. After she finishes she cleans up real quick before going out to meet the makeup and fashion team who already had Tony in a chair, covering up the few scars that were on his face, showing him clothes. Pepper excuses herself to use the restroom before coming back and settling down to get her makeup done, reaching out a hand to stroke Tony's hand as they sit in silence. Tony gets done first and he goes to pick out his clothes before coming back and sitting down on the floor at the base of Pepper's chair. He takes her left foot into his hand and starts to rub softly, smiling as he watches her body relax. After a bit they finish with Pepper's makeup and sit her up before showing her clothing options. Pepper chooses a few pieces that were interchangeable before looking down at Tony and smiling girlishly.

"Are you going to get off the floor?" Tony shrugs and grins before kissing Pepper's ankle and setting her right foot down. He stands up and straightens his t-shirt and pants before excusing himself to go get changed. Pepper smiles at Tony from behind the dressing curtain when he comes downstairs dressed in the suit he picked out, shaking out his pant legs.

"Hi handsome." Tony grins and winks at Pepper before making an exaggerated effort to look behind the curtain before the redhead pushes him away playfully. A couple minutes later she comes out dressed in a men's button up shirt that was tailored to her curves but still a little long and rolled up at the sleeves and a tight black stretchy pencil skirt, wearing her favorite black patent Louboutin's to match. Tony waggles his eyebrows softly before kissing Pepper's lips quickly.

"Very sexy." Pepper does a small turn for Tony, squealing when he smacks her ass softly. A throat clears behind them and Tony spins around as Pepper turns on her heel, both of them smiling sheepishly at Annie Leibovitz who was going to be their photographer for the day.

"My my, don't you two clean up well." Pepper blushes and looks down, her red hair falling into her face. Tony reaches out and tickles her in the side, getting her to laugh. Annie smiles and clicks a few pictures of them before nodding towards the house behind her.

"Let's head to the office." Tony wraps an arm around Pepper and walks with her to the home office where the photo crew had set up. Pepper stands next to the desk, waiting as Tony sinks into the office chair.

"I wanna try a few things here. First, Pepper I want you sitting in Tony's lap, looking over a file with him. You're going to hold the file up for both of you to see and Tony you're going to put your hand on her belly, and we'll see where that goes okay?" Pepper nods and slips into Tony's lap smiling at him.

"Comfy Mr. Stark?"

"Extraordinarily, we might have to clear the room in a few minutes though." Tony grins and waggles his eyebrows as Pepper shifts her bum to sit in his lap better before grabbing a file off the desk and opening it up. The two of them obediently take pictures for a while, moving around the house, losing pieces of clothing along the way. By the time they were taking their last pictures laying out in the yard Pepper's shoes and shirt were gone, leaving her in her bra and skirt and Tony had discarded his jacket and tie as well as his own shoes. His shirt was untucked and the sleeves were rolled up and the shirt was unbuttoned a couple buttons on the top and bottom. Pepper was letting out peels of laughter as Tony's facial hair tickled her stomach while he kissed her belly, sometimes discreetly tickling her side with his hand. After a few minutes she tugs playfully at his thick hair before rolling over on top of him and kissing him softly.

"I love you." Tony strokes Pepper's hair from her face before smiling at her.

"I love you too."

"Alright! You guys did great today." Tony gets up off the ground and lifts Pepper up onto her feet. Pepper lets out a small squeak and smiles thankfully at Tony when he hands her her shirt. Pepper buttons the shirt up swiftly before putting her hands on her belly, following Tony and Annie inside.

"We're going to have a quick chat about when I'm going to come back in a few months to meet the baby then I'm going to skedaddle back to the office and get working on these pictures, but I'm going to leave a staff photographer here to take some pictures during your interview." Tony nods and sits down on the couch before tugging Pepper into his lap.

"So, when are you due Pepper?"

"The middle of August." Pepper strokes the hair at the nape of Tony's neck softly as she talks.

"We're planning on having the baby in New York. So we're going to be there for at least the first month. When were they looking to have the issue out?" Pepper gets out her Blackberry and opens up her calendar.

"We could make the September issue, if your doctors planning on you delivering on time."

"We haven't really talked about it at all. Can we plan on making the September issue, but possibly need to do the October?"

"Sure, I'll make sure they know to have a back up story. And hopefully I'll see you in August." Annie smiles and says her goodbyes before leaving the house. Pepper makes a note in her schedule before excusing herself to use the restroom. She comes back a few moments later dressed in the shirt still but changed into black yoga pants, her hair pulled away from her face that had been washed. She smiles as she sits down next to Tony once more, leaning over and kissing him.

"Happy's bringing food over for everyone. I for one am starving." Tony's stomach growls when Pepper mentions food and she giggles. Most of the team packs up and leaves leaving a few people behind, including the interviewer and photographer. The girl interviewing them sits down across from them in an armchair and introduces herself as Sarah Wilson.

"Well, now that it's a little less busy around here. Would you like to get started now or wait until the food gets here?"

"We can start now." Pepper looks at Tony.

"Is that okay with you?" Tony nods and smiles.

"Sure." Sarah smiles and turns on a tape recorder before getting out an iPad. She rolls the cover back and props it up on her lap before opening up the list of questions she had, skimming through them before starting to talk.

"So you guys have your first anniversary coming up around the time that the baby's due. Were you planning on getting pregnant so quickly?" Pepper looks at Tony and strokes his arm softly as he wraps it around her.

"We hadn't actually talked about having kids at all while we dated and when I found out I was pregnant, I had a bit of a freak out about it, thinking to myself 'oh my god this can't be happening, we haven't talked about this, we've only been married a few months'. But when I told Tony, his face just…lit up like it does when he finally figures out something after working on it forever or when I cook his mom's food for him." Pepper grins softly.

"So needless to say it was a surprise but we're extremely happy about it." Tony nods.

"We can't wait for the baby to get here." Sarah smiles.

"Do you know what the sex is?" Tony nods and squeezes Pepper.

"Yeah we do, we are having a baby boy."

"That's great. Have any name ideas?"

"We do have his name picked out, but that's going to be a surprise for everyone."

"Very sneaky, any hints about it?"

"It's going to be something that is very personal to both of us, right babe?" Tony looks at Pepper, smiling when she nods.

"Anymore kids after this?"

"I think we're just going to see how this one goes. So we aren't ruling it out."

"How are you guys doing with preparing for the baby?"

"I think we both think we're doing okay and we're probably failing miserably, so we'll probably start asking around soon and see what little nuts and bolts of wisdom we're missing." Pepper laughs softly and Tony speaks up.

"But we are doing really well right now. I've built some stuff for the baby and he's going to use some of my old stuff that we found in storage, yesterday we did a major shopping trip and got a lot of clothes and necessities for him."

"You've built stuff for the baby?"

"Yeah I built him a changing table, it's got a mini fridge built in for extra bottles, a bottle warmer, a diaper warmer, and the pad warms up so when we get him out of the bed in the middle of the night he's not shocked by the cold. There's also the cradle that we're going to keep in the bedroom with us, it's got a nanny cam built in and one of the robots rocks it with a timer and music. And the mobile. It's got little Ironman figurines on it that will spin and play music and then once he gets older they'll come off and be toys for him to play with." Sarah smiles at Tony.

"That sounds great. What prompted you to do that?"

"I was bored one day, figured it's better than anything we can buy and it's kind of a family tradition."

"Oh?" Tony nods.

"Yeah, my dad built my furniture, partially because my mom wanted him to and partially because he wanted to." Sarah nods and smiles.

"What's the thing you guys are looking forward to the most in these next few months?" Tony looks at Pepper deciding to let her answer first.

"I think what I'm looking forward to the most between now and when the baby gets here…is just getting settled and having that nesting instinct kick in. I really want to actually have a home for the baby to come home to instead of a state of the art house. And Tony and I have already done a bit of that on our own since I moved in over a year ago, but I want to take it further. It's something that I've noticed Tony's mom was able to do when he was little as I start organizing stuff around here finding pictures and videos and journals and I think it's very important to have home instead of house."

"Tony, what about you?"

"Her."

"Pepper?" Tony nods.

"Yeah, I mean she's changed so much already and I'm looking forward to watching her change even more and watching our baby grow inside of her. I think part of me is even looking forward to the labor and just being able to be there and support her."

"Not most men would say that."

"I'm not most men." Pepper looks behind them as Jarvis announces Happy's arrival, smiling at the man in a suit who was carrying two grocery bags filled with food. She hops up and smiles, taking the bags from Happy.

"You are my hero." Pepper kisses Happy's cheek before setting the bags down on the coffee table and opening them up, handing out food to everyone. She digs out the box that had chinese food in it and gets her chopsticks out before starting to eat, moaning softly in delight.

"See what I put up with I can't even eat without being seduced!" Pepper smacks Tony's leg softly before eating another bite. She finishes most of the box before waddling to the kitchen and getting a glass of chocolate milk. Tony was talking quietly with Happy for a few moments before the driver/bodyguard left after bidding goodbyes to everyone. Pepper finishes the rest of her food before throwing the box away and wiping her mouth off with a napkin.

"Sorry about that I don't usually eat out of the carton, but he does not wait for dinner sometimes." Pepper comments as she pats her belly, feeling the baby roll around and kick as she sits down.

"A bit like _someone_ I know." Pepper says as she shoots a look at Tony, who gives her a wide-eyed innocent look back as a piece of tomato hangs out of his mouth. She giggles softly at Tony's look and curls her feet under her before reaching over and wiping the spot clean for him and licking her finger off with a quick sultry look.

"We should finish our interview."


	9. Chapter 9

"What about a baby shower?" Tony asks as he wanders into Pepper's office. They'd had a meeting with the next years Stark Expo. Opposed to the first expo the one they were planning was due to become the first expo of what would become an annual two-week affair. Pepper was also officially letting the board know when her maternity leave was starting. Pepper looks up from the file on her desk she'd been going over.

"What about it?"

"When is yours?"

"I'm not having one." Tony comes around Pepper's desk and puts his hands on her shoulders, rubbing softly to ease the tension. He knew she was uptight about continuing the yearly expo after what had happened at the initial one, but Tony (and the board of directors) didn't see an issue since after a week off for repair the numbers had skyrocketed and the expo had brought in over a billion visitors.

"Why aren't you having one?"

"Because we don't need people to spend money on the baby when we make the money we do and we already have a bunch of stuff for him."

"So tell them to donate it to something for kids or keep the presents and just donate their value…or you could even donate the presents."

"You've been thinking about this."

"Didn't you see the smoke?" Tony chuckles softly and kisses Pepper's head.

"I don't want you to not have the traditional pregnancy because we make money."

"It's not that big of a deal for me to skip three hours of people touching my belly and telling me not to string our baby up by its toes."

"Duh, I'm going to do that." Tony smiles once more and spins Pepper around.

"Have the shower Pepper."

"Whyyyyy?" Pepper whines softly.

"Because you should. You can invite whomever you want and get whatever kind of food you want. Music, I'll even get you some live music." Pepper rolls her eyes.

"You don't have music at a shower."

"I'll get you whatever you want just have it. You deserve to have it."

"Fine I'll have it." Pepper spins around in her chair to face her desk.

"But you can plan it." Tony's hands still on Pepper's back and she grins to herself.

"Problem Mr. Stark?" Pepper asks in mock innocence.

"No, no problem. You want me to plan your baby shower?"

"Our baby shower." Tony swallows and resumes rubbing softly.

"I can do that."

"Okay just let me know when I need to show up." Pepper looks up at Tony and pouts her lips for a kiss. Tony leans down and kisses her softly.

"I love you."

"I love you too." Pepper smiles before returning to her work, mildly disappointed when Tony gets called away to the labs, casting him a smile before he leaves anyway. Tony Stark was going to plan a baby shower. The thought made Pepper giggle to herself.

..ironman

Within the next few days Tony was elbow deep in baby shower plans outside of work. He'd nailed down a tentative menu and was currently going through his list of possible locations to see if their caterers would match the menu he had chosen. Apparently being Tony Stark had no weight in the world of fancy food.

"Mr. Stark?" Jarvis speaks up, interrupting Tony's search.

"What is it Jarvis?"

"Mr. Hogan just phoned. There's been an incident outside of Stark Industries with Mrs. Stark. They're en route home right now." Tony abandons his planning, clamoring upstairs and out to the roundabout just in time to meet Happy and Pepper. He wrenches Pepper's door open and stops sudden at the sight of the bruise forming on her face.

"What the hell happened!" Tony helps Pepper out of the car and softly turns her face to look at the bruse.

"Happy was walking me out to the car, I turned around and…" Pepper trails off and a blush colors her neck and face reaching to the tips of her ears.

"And what?"

"I ran into a camera…" Pepper whispers softly, looking down.

"Happy!"

"Yes, Mr. Stark?" Happy comes around the car.

"Has the…"

"SI security has taken care of the incident but unfortunately the footage is already online and hitting the local news."

"It is?" Pepper whines, hiding her face in Tony's chest.

"I feel like a fool."

"Come on." Tony picks Pepper up and takes her inside depositing her on the couch before getting her an ice pack and ordering a scan from Jarvis.

"It can't be that bad…and they shouldn't be crowding you that much anyway, I'm going to have a talk with security about this." Pepper shrugs as she holds the ice pack to her face.

"It's still stupid." Jarvis interrupts the conversation to inform the couple that Pepper's injury was simply just a bruise and should be gone in a week. Tony pulls the ice pack away and kisses her cheek softly.

"Can't leave you alone for a minute." Pepper rolls her eyes and puts the ice pack back, a smile creeping out.

"Why don't you go get changed and we can go out for dinner, wherever you want."

"I am not leaving the house looking like this Tony."

"Makeup should cover it up."

"Tony, makeup can do wonderful things, it's not going to cover this up."

"Yes it will, come on." Tony pulls Pepper to their bathroom and gets her make up out before starting to apply it to the bruise, making sure to be soft. In 20 minutes Tony had made the purple monstrosity disappear.

"See." Tony applies a swipe of blush over the area before handing Pepper her handheld mirror.

"I was a clumsy kid and an even clumsier teenager, so Mom finally just taught me how to do it myself." Tony kisses Pepper.

"Come in handy for sleepless nights too." Pepper leans closer and checks her face before setting the mirror down.

"What did you have in mind for dinner?"

"Tacos?" Pepper opens her mouth quickly to agree to her latest craving before pausing and looking at Tony.

"Tacos in Malibu or tacos in Mexico?"

"Mexico?" Pepper rolls her eyes and shakes her head, pushing Tony out of the bathroom and following him.

"You can buy me tacos on the pier."

"Fine." Tony whines softly.

"But don't say I don't try to do nice things for you."

"I know you do nice things for me." Pepper smiles as she goes into her closet and undresses from her work clothes, putting them in the laundry hamper in the corner. She puts on jean capris and roots around in Tony's t-shirts before pulling out one of his old MIT t-shirts, tugging it over her head. She pulls it over her belly and puts her heels back in their place before grabbing a pair of flip flops. She puts her essentials from her bag into a satchel before going out to Tony.

"Are you going to clean up at all grease monkey?"

"I guess." Tony smiles before going to get cleaned up himself before coming back out. He puts the neoprene cover over the arc reactor and puts on a tanktop and a t-shirt before grabbing his jeans and pulling them on.

"Imagine what would happen if the world knew you went commando sometimes." Pepper grins as she sits on the end of the bed. Tony laughs and spins around for her.

"Do I pass inspection?" 

"Mmhm." Pepper tugs Tony down for a kiss before pulling away a few moments later.

"Come on." Pepper takes Tony's hand, smiling thankfully at him as he helps her up. Tony holds onto Pepper's hand as they walk downstairs to the workshop, stopping in front of the cars. Pepper rocks on her feet for a few moments before looking at Tony.

"Let's take the Audi with the top down."

"Okay." Tony grabs his keys before opening Pepper's door for her. Pepper sinks into the car and puts the seatbelt on while Tony gets in.

"So we're having tacos at the pier?" Pepper nods and smiles. Tony starts the car and pulls through the garages tunnel before taking to the street, heading for the Malibu Pier. Tony parks the car in a garage and has Jarvis turn the alarm on before helping Pepper out. She kisses him softly and smiles at him before walking towards the pier, stopping off at a taco stand once they get there. She gets an order of chicken for herself, an order of beef for her and Tony to split before looking at her husband.

"Fish?" Tony nods.

"Yeah fish."

"And an order of fish please and can we get jalapeños on all of them? Tony do you want anything to drink?"

"Just a bottle of water."

"Okay, a bottle of water, and aaaaa mango banana smoothie, and two churros please."

"Anything else?" Pepper shakes her head and smiles before paying for the food. She thanks the teenaged boy that hands them a tray a few moments later before heading to the picnic table that Tony had claimed for them. She sets the tray down and sits next to Tony before putting his food in front of him along with his bottle of water.

"Dinner is served." Tony smiles and kisses Pepper before starting to eat. Pepper winks at Tony before starting to eat herself, once she finishes all of her food she sips on her smoothie and hands Tony one of the churros.

"You're enjoying this whole free reign to eat whatever you want aren't you?" Pepper nods as she chews over her first bite with a grin. 

"Pretty much." Pepper finishes her dessert and wipes her mouth off with a soft smile.

"How about a few games then we go for a walk?" Tony nods as he wipes his hands off with a napkin before using some hand sanitizer.

"Sure." Tony gets up and helps Pepper off the bench before walking with her towards the arcade they had on the pier. He lets her play a few games before playing a couple with her. In the end Pepper had ended up winning a small stuffed blue teddy bear. Pepper squeezes Tony after they finish their last game since Tony claimed he was out of change.

"Since when do you carry change anyway?"

"Since someone makes me go out at two am for food." Pepper sticks her tongue out and squeals as Tony leans down and captures it. She melts into the kiss after a couple moments before Tony pulls back and lets out a laugh. Pepper shoves him softly and grins, a blush settling on her cheeks.

"You said something about a walk?" Pepper nods silently and walks with Tony down to the beach. She puts her flip-flops in her hands and waits for Tony to take off his own shoes and roll up his pants. She lets him wrap his arm around her as she leans into his side while they start to walk.

"I haven't done this in a while."

"What?"

"Walked on the beach with someone." Tony looks down at Pepper and smiles at her.

"I haven't done it since after I graduated. We went on vacation to Tortola in the Virgin Islands, at night Mom and I would take walks on the beach and talk."

"What did you talk about?"

"Anything…everything…" Pepper nods and stays quiet for a little bit before speaking up again.

"What were you thinking about on the pier, when you were watching me? And don't tell me nothing, I could practically hear you thinking."

"The baby." Pepper squeezes Tony softly.

"Are you doing okay with this? I know we didn't talk about having kids, and it's barely been a year since we got married…"

"I'm doing fine with it. It's not the it. It's the after it."

"What do you mean?"

"What do we do after he gets here? Do we get him a nanny? Do we take him with us? Do we do half and half? Do you stay home? Do I stay home? Do we trade? I just…" Pepper covers Tony's mouth to stop him from prattling on.

"Tony, we have time to figure it out. What do you want? Do you want to get a nanny for the baby or have me stay home?" Tony shrugs and runs his hand through his hair.

"I don't want him to have a nanny. My parents never did that with me."

"Okay that's what I want too." Pepper looks up at Tony.

"I don't see why we can't just take him with us to things. I'm sure the girls at work would just be falling over themselves to see him once we get back." Tony rolls his eyes and Pepper grins.

"What else is bothering you babe?" Pepper scratches Tony's back softly.

"What if they expect too much of him?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just because he's my son doesn't guarantee he's going to be a genius…"

"No it doesn't. But being our baby guarantees him our love. And that's what matters…" Pepper stops and leans up on her toes, kissing Tony softly.

"Okay?"

"Okay." Pepper nudges Tony and turns heading back towards the pier.

"So, we've had dinner, we've had some fun and some serious. What do you want to do when we get home, Mr. Stark?" Tony shrugs.

"I've got some stuff I can work on if you're tired." Pepper shakes her head and rests her head against Tony's arm.

"I'm not tired, but I was thinking we could head to bed early…" Pepper grins softly against Tony's sleeve and bites him softly.

"You got me all wet when you said you were thinking about the baby." Tony stumbles in the sand and Pepper giggles as she continues to walk along side of him.

"I'm sorry, I think I misheard you." Pepper stops in front of Tony when they get back to the pier and runs her fingers through his hair before tugging his head back softly.

"I want to have sex when we get home. Got it?"

"Yeah I think I got it."

"Good." Pepper smiles and lets Tony go, pressing a small kiss to his lips before putting her flip flops on and heading towards the car. Tony puts his own shoes back on and jogs to catch up with her, growling when he sees the mob of people gathered around the Audi, no doubt waiting for them to get back to the car. He gets his keys out and clicks the button to put up the top and start the engine before he wraps his arm around Pepper. She nestles easily into his side and puts a hand over her belly, staying quiet with her head down as Tony gets her safely into the car. She buckles up as he walks around to his side, getting in before pealing away from the group of paparazzi.

"Now I see why we have to have a special paparazzi injury account." Tony laughs and reaches over, grabbing Pepper's hand softly.

"You okay? You didn't walk into any cameras again did you?" Pepper rolls her eyes and digs her nails into Tony's hand.

"Don't be mean." Tony winces and Pepper grins before squeezing Tony's hand softly. She stays quiet, watching the passing coastline as they drive home. Once Tony parks in the garage she gets out and tugs off her shirt after kicking her flip-flops off. She unbuttons her jeans and shimmies them down before kicking them away. Tony gets around the car and stops when he sees Pepper and her half naked state. She smiles shyly and bites her lip softly. Tony walks over to her and kisses her lips as he runs his fingers down her side slowly. Pepper tangles her fingers in his hair and kisses him back hungrily as she presses her body to his. Tony groans softly and grabs her ass, lifting her onto his desk after swiping everything off of it. Pepper grabs Tony's shirt and tugs it off, raking her nails down his chest with a grin as her husband curses her name softly. She undoes his pants and pushes them around his ankles, her hand immediately wrapping around his hard cock.

"Someone's happy to see me."

"Always happy to see you." Pepper squeezes softly and gives Tony a few strokes before rubbing her thumb over his head with an evil grin. She takes her bra off and lifts her hips slightly as Tony's hands tug her underwear off of her. His hand rubs over her belly softly before cupping her breasts and squeezing. Pepper's breath hitches and she lets out a soft whine as Tony's left hand is replaced with his mouth and his cock rubs against her entrance. She threads her fingers into his hair and makes a hard fist, pulling him closer and whimpering into his ear.

"Take me Tony…Take me hard Ironman." Tony pulls Pepper's hips closer to the edge of the desk before thrusting into her hard. Pepper cries out and bucks against Tony. He pulls out most of the way before thrusting back into her, repeating the motion a few times before starting to find a rhythm. Pepper joins in by bucking her hips back against his and whimpering his name every so often. Tony's mouth leaves her left breast for the right one, covering it with his hand and massaging softly. Pepper's hand drifts between them and starts to rub her clit softly, a loud groan ripping from her throat.

"Harder Tony, fuck me harder." Tony groans against the flesh in his mouth and speeds up his thrusts, pounding into Pepper harder. He smacks her hand away from herself and replaces it with his own.

"Mine." Pepper lets out a breathless laugh and moans loudly as Tony hits the perfect spot.

"Right there." Tony continues to thrust against the spot, delighting in Pepper's moans and whimpers as her legs tighten around his waist. She runs her fingers through his hair and arches her back, crying out his full name as she cums hard. Tony continues to thrust through her orgasm, bringing her to another one before yelling her name into her collarbone. Pepper pants heavily and strokes her fingers through Tony's thick hair. She presses a kiss to his temple and smiles.

"I love you Anthony…so much."

"I love you too." Tony kisses Pepper and holds her close.

"Very much babe."


	10. Chapter 10

Pepper shifts her hips and sighs softly as she finds a new comfortable position in the back seat of the Rolls Royce before rubbing her belly, trying to soothe the baby inside.

"Calm down baby boy." Tony reaches over and rubs her belly along with her, enjoying feeling the bumps against her skin as the baby rolls and kicks.

"He's pretty worked up."

"Yeah well they made me a half caff instead of a decaff this morning at Starbucks so he's probably still hopped up on the caffeine." Tony leans down and kisses Pepper's belly softly.

"You need to calm down for mommy Howie."

"Howie?"

"Mmhm. It's his nickname." Tony smiles and kisses Pepper's belly once more before sitting back up, wrapping an arm around her.

"So, we're on our way to your baby shower, we've made him a nursery, we've given him a name, we know where we're having him…" Tony looks down at Pepper.

"How are we having him?"

"How?"

"Yeah Pepperpot. He's not just going to magically appear in his crib." Pepper shifts once again and looks up at Tony as they ride along the coastline.

"I don't want a c-section. I wanna do it natural. No drugs. I just want the doctor there and you and me and mom. I don't wanna be forced into anything, I don't want to be cut. I wanna do whatever position I want and I get to hold him right after he's born. Any questions?"

"We're not getting him circumcised right?" Pepper nods and grins, breaking the serious look on her face, kissing him softly.

"No we're not getting him circumcised." Tony strokes Pepper's hair from her face.

"You really wanna do it natural?" Pepper nods.

"Yeah, I've been doing reading and working on my breathing and I don't want drugs." Tony nods and smiles.

"And I want you there the whole time…no matter what I say then, I want you there. So you can tell Fury to kiss my ass but for that time you're mine." Pepper fists her hand in Tony's shirt softly.

"Okay?" Tony kisses Pepper and strokes her cheek softly.

"Of course I'm gonna be there. I can't wait to meet our baby boy." Tony smiles. Pepper smiles back at him and kisses his lips softly.

"You're amazing."

"I do try." Tony laughs and looks out the window, finding that they were almost at their destination.

"We're almost there."

"I still can't believe you did this."

"What put together the best baby shower ever?"

"Exactly." Pepper smiles and kisses Tony as Happy pulls the car to a stop before turning it off and getting out. He opens the door on Pepper's side and holds a hand out to her. Pepper takes the offered hand and pulls herself out of the car, putting her hands on her stomach to steady herself once she stands up straight.

"Okay, I'm good." Pepper laughs softly before turning around as Tony gets out of the car, taking his hand in hers.

"So what do you think?" Pepper turns around and gasps when she sees they're at the French Laundry. The restaurant was a big place for them. It was where they'd had their first date, where Tony had proposed and where they had gone to celebrate the news of their pregnancy.

"I pulled some strings and got us the restaurant reserved. We're doing a traditional brunch with some of your favorite dishes, and everyone's already been flown up here and is waiting." Pepper makes a teary face before turning around and hugging Tony, kissing him deeply.

"I love you, you amazing man." Tony smiles and wraps his arm around Pepper before walking her inside. Once they get to the upstairs dining area everyone's conversations stop and they all yell 'congratulations!' at once. Pepper laughs and smiles brightly as she recognizes their close friends and family.

"Thanks!"

..ironman

Everyone had dined and some had wined and now they were sitting around an open area, getting ready to open presents. Tony had apparently made the suggestion on the invitations for people to bring presents that most new parents didn't think of getting on their own. Pepper takes a drink of her lemonade before her mom hands her the first present. She'd been glad to see her mom, Gwen, there. It was always hard to get back home and for her mom to get out to California. They'd had a few days together after Pepper had found out she was pregnant, and they talked almost daily, but actually having her mom next to her handing presents is what made Pepper glad that they'd had the baby shower. As Pepper continued to open presents they found out there were quite a few things that they hadn't thought of getting, including what Pepper's aunt called a box of wisdom. The decorative box included socks for the baby, a thermometer, nail clippers as well as a selection of teas for Pepper and a baby bottle that had her favorite candy in it. Tony had also received his own 'New Dad' baby bag kit from Pepper's mom that had included things to take to the hospital with them like a camera, a stopwatch, and a tiny notebook and pen set. Other people had purchased a variety of books that included basic baby books as well as longer novels for when the baby got older as well as some essential pieces of clothing. There was also a mound of diapers, cloth and disposable, which were piled up next to the presents in various sizes and kinds. Rhodey had bought the baby a bath seat as well as some soaps and toys to go with it.

"I know how dirty you can get I can only imagine how dirty you're going to get that baby!" Tony laughs and thanks his friend before Pepper hands him a clothing box with a smile.

"This is for you, from me." Tony arches his eyebrow.

"You didn't bring anything with you."

"I know. I ordered it from back home. Mom brought it with her." Tony tugs the gold bow that was wrapped around the small red box open. He takes the top off and shuffles the red and gold tissue paper to the side. Inside was a onsie that was screen printed to look like Tony's suit, a red and gold cap that had glow in the dark eye slots painted on it, a set of red and gold mittens that had glow and the dark paint 'repulsors' on it, and matching booties with the 'repulsors' painted on them as well. Tony laughs and smiles, leaning over to kiss Pepper.

"It's great babe. Thanks."

"You're welcome." Pepper smiles and strokes Tony's cheek. After presents they all have cake, and everyone starts to disperse. Most of the guests had decided to take advantage of being in Napa and have a small vacation for the rest of the weekend. The few that were going home were taking the cars that Tony had come to the airport where the Stark Industries jet was flying them home. Once everyone was gone it was just Pepper, Tony, Happy and Gwen left. Tony and Happy were loading gifts into the car and Gwen smiles at her daughter putting her hands on her stomach.

"You've gotten big." Pepper laughs and nods.

"Yeah these last few weeks I've 'exploded' as Tony put it." Gwen smiles as she finds the spot where the baby was currently kicking.

"He's an active little thing."

"Just like his dad, always moving around." Tony grabs the last box of diapers and smiles at Pepper and Gwen.

"Ready?" Pepper nods and holds onto her mother's hand as they walk out to the car. Tony puts the last box in the extra car that had been brought by one of their part time drivers. Pepper gets into the car first before her mom slides in then Tony. Happy gets in after shutting the door, starting the car and pulling away to head back to the house. Instead of leaning into Tony, Pepper leans into Gwen's side, resting her head on her mother's shoulder.

"You know I think this is the first time in a long time I haven't seen you in four inch stilettos." Pepper holds her foot out and wiggles her toes in the flip-flops she had on.

"Well I'm under instructions to not wear them…so I only wore them to work, cause I spend most of my day sitting down." Pepper laughs softly.

"Tony's still getting used to it too, having to look down a bit instead of up a bit."

"The view is still just as nice." Tony pipes up and Pepper thwacks him softly on the leg.

"Hush!" Happy parks the car at the airstrip and opens the door on Tony's side. Tony gets out and helps Pepper out before holding a hand out to Gwen.

"Wheels up in five minutes boss." Tony nods and helps both of the ladies into the plane before taking his seat. The stewardess comes over with three bottles of water and sets them down before smiling at the three people in front of her.

"Good afternoon Mr. Stark, Mrs. Stark, Mrs. Potts…can I get you anything else before we take off?" Everyone shakes their head.

"Okay, have a nice flight." Pepper opens her bottle of water and takes a drink before leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

"Wake me up when we land."

..ironman

"Pep, wake up, we're home babe." Tony rustles Pepper slightly.

"Come on Pepperpot." Pepper makes a sound before waking up and stretching out. She gets out of the car and stretches again before sleepily walking inside, leaning against her mother. Once they get inside a small bark and then the scraping of nails against the tile floor startle her before she's pummeled in the legs by a little black ball of fluff. When the ball of fluff drops down and rolls onto it's back, a tongue lolling out of the mouth she finds that it has a white belly and partially white face. Pepper's face immediately lights up when she realizes it's a puppy.

"A puppy!" She bends over as well as she can, picking the small thing up and laughing as it laps at her face. Her father appears around the corner a moment later.

"Daddy!" Pepper sets the puppy down and runs over to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"You came!" Tom Potts smiles and wraps his arms around his daughter, squeezing her softly.

"Of course I came, someone had to be here for your mom's package and to keep an eye on the puppy." Tom picks up the puppy and offers it to Pepper again.

"For my grandson."

"Dad…you didn't have to do this…"

"You mentioned something about getting a puppy more than once, and he's going to stay pretty small so, it's perfect for you guys." The puppy reaches his tongue out again and licks Pepper softly.

"Thank you! Does he have a name?"

"Nope."

"How about Rocket?" Pepper smiles and scratches behind the dogs ears.

"Does that sound good?" Rocket's tongue lolls out of his mouth in a 'smile' as he looks up at Pepper.

"Then we'll call you Rocket, and you can be my Rocky Baby." The puppy lets out a bark and Pepper giggles. She ruffles his fur for a few moments before setting him down on the couch, sitting herself and putting her hands on her belly.

"So what brings both you and mom?" Rocket pads around in a circle a couple times before settling against Pepper's side.

"Well, we talked to Tony a couple weeks ago. And he suggested a plan to us." Pepper arches her eyebrow up at Tony.

"What kind of a plan? He's not authorized to suggest plans." Pepper grins softly.

"Well…he did, so you can punish him for that later." Pepper lets out a laugh.

"Dad!"

"Anyway, Tony suggested that for late fall through spring your mother and I move out here, and spring through late fall we all go east. Us to New Haven and you guys to New York." Tony sits on the arm of the couch next to Pepper.

"They could come into the city and we could go out to New Haven…and then during the rest of the year they'd be in the guest house." Pepper looks up at Tony.

"You thought about that?" Tony nods.

"We're having a baby, and we hardly see your parents as it is…I think that we need to actively be in the same city." Pepper reaches up and tugs Tony down to her pressing a deep kiss to his lips for a few moments before pulling back and pecking his lips a couple times.

"That's the sweetest thing I think you've ever done. I think that sounds great."

"Good. Cause your parents brought all their stuff with them."

"You did?" Gwen nods as she sits next to her husband.

"Yep, everything we need is moved into the guest house. Now, show me my grandson's room." Pepper gets up and picks up Rocket before showing her parents upstairs, shooting Tony a look that said they'd talk later.

After showing her parents the nursery and what they had done with the house since the last time they had stayed with them they all ventured out to the guesthouse together. Pepper makes sure her parents have everything they need before giving them a crash course in living in the AI run complex. Pepper sinks onto the comfortable couch she'd picked out when redecorating the place and lets out a soft sigh as Rocket settles down next to her.

"Your father and I have another present for you."

"Mom…you guys didn't have to get me anything else."

"We wanted to, its our first grandbaby." Gwen smiles and goes with Tom to the bedroom, both of them come out once again with an old footlocker between them. They set it down in front of Pepper.

"What…"

"It's a mix of your baby things, things for Howard…things for you and Tony." Gwen opens the top for Pepper and sits next to her, walking her through the contents of the trunk. Included with Pepper's baby things were her baby book, her bronze booties, a pink and yellow quilt that had served as her baby blanket along with a couple photo albums and some clothes that were still in good condition. The things for Howard included clothes in various sizes, frames in different sizes to put pictures of the family and him in, bath towels to go with the tub that Rhodey had gotten, a small silver rattle from Tiffany's that Pepper had mentioned to her mom that she'd been eyeballing, and matching silver containers.

"For things that don't really fit in the baby book." Pepper nods and continues to go through the stuff, finding empty scrapbooks and picture albums, a few hand knit items before she gets to the bottom and pulls out a hand quilted baby blanket. Her mother had taken time to stitch Howard's name into it and had made one side one solid piece of baby blue fleece so it'd be comfortable for him. Pepper tears up as she looks at the blanket, sniffling before looking at her mom.

"Thanks…for all this and for coming out here and…" Gwen nods and smiles as she tucks Pepper's hair behind her ear, kissing her head softly.

"I know honey." Pepper folds the blanket back up and takes a deep breath before wiping away her tears.

"Okay, I'm okay." Pepper laughs softly and puts the blanket back. She goes through the stuff that they'd gotten for her and Tony, happy to find a labor/post birth kit that her mom had put together for her as well as a small box of cigars for Tony, as well as a quilt that was for them. Pepper packs everything back in before closing the lid.

"This is great…thank you." Pepper hugs her mom before hugging her dad.

"Let me give Ironman a call so we can get this inside." Pepper giggles before asking Jarvis to have Tony come out. Tony comes in a few minutes later and smiles at Pepper.

"What's up babe?"

"Could you carry this inside?" Pepper indicates the trunk.

"Yeah sure." Tony squats down and grabs the handles before standing up straight.

"Where am I putting it once I get it inside?"

"In the nursery in front of the crib please." Tony nods and starts to carry the trunk inside. Pepper says goodnight to her parents before following him inside. Once Tony puts the trunk down Pepper opens it up and gets out their quilt before nudging Tony towards their bedroom. Once they get there she shuts the door and sets Rocket down, taking her jeans and shirt off before heading to her closet. She tosses her bra away and bites her lip as she peers into her drawers. Tony comes up behind her and cups her breasts softly, kissing her neck.

"I set up Rocket's things in the bathroom, so he can find them…I apologize for not talking to you before I invited your parents to move in with us."

"It's okay…just, talk to me before you do things like this."

"Deal." Pepper smiles and gets out a grey nightshirt. She pulls it over her head, immediately divesting Tony's hands from her. She turns around and kisses Tony softly before smiling at him.

"Thanks for today."

"You don't have to thank me." Pepper shrugs and kisses Tony before going to the bed and spreading out their quilt. Rocket comes racing from the bathroom and hops onto the bed and curls up in the corner by where Pepper's feet would go, falling asleep immediately. Tony comes out a couple moments after her, dressed in his underwear, which were sporting a tent. Pepper slips into bed under the blankets and smiles tiredly at Tony.

"Do you wanna…"

"You sure?" Pepper nods.

"I'm tired babe." Pepper lays on her side facing away from Tony, cuddled up to a body pillow with her belly resting on it. Tony takes off his underwear and slides into bed behind Pepper. He kisses her shoulder and rubs his hand over her hip.

"You sure?"

"Yes I'm sure." Tony hooks his fingers into her underwear and tugs them off. Pepper hooks her leg around the pillow, closing her eyes and starting to doze off as Tony slides into her.


	11. Chapter 11

Pepper was enjoying having her parents around almost all the time. It definitely made her feel safer when Tony went to work, which she told him he still had to do even though they'd relocated to the New York office. They'd agreed to stay with them in New York instead of going to New Haven since the baby would be arriving soon and Pepper wanted her mom there for the birth as well as the time after. Having her mom around had other perks too, like making and finishing a nursery for Howard at the New York penthouse as well as taking a side trip to New Haven to make some finishing touches on the room her parents had put together for him. Pepper was lying on the couch watching a movie and feeling the baby move around when she felt a clenching in her stomach. She rubs her hands over her belly and takes a deep breath before focusing back on the movie when she feels it again a while later. After it passes Pepper pauses her movie and calls out to Jarvis.

"Jarvis, what's Tony's location?"

"He's on his way home Mrs. Stark. He's currently over the Atlantic Ocean at latitude thirty-six degrees north and longitude forty degrees west progressing at a speed of approximately six hundred miles per hour. He's approximately eleven hundred miles out to sea and should be expected home in one hour and forty-five minutes."

"Thank you." Pepper takes a deep breath and manages to get herself off the couch before going in search of her mother. She finds her in the kitchen working on a pie.

"Mom?" 

"Yeah baby?" Gwen finishes venting the pie and turns around to look at Pepper wiping her hands on her apron. Pepper was near her due date so they made a deal that one person was supposed to be with her at all times incase she went into labor.

"I think I'm having contractions." Gwen drops her apron back to her waist and walks over to Pepper. She puts her hands on her stomach.

"Did your water break?" Pepper shakes her head.

"How many have you had?"

"I've been having Braxton Hicks for the last month…the last ones I've been having today have been kind of regular." Pepper takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as she feels another one coming.

"Jarvis said Tony is going to be home in about two hours, I am…going to go lay down."

"Okay. Let me put this in the oven then I'll come in and lay down with you okay?" Pepper nods and Gwen kisses her head before watching to make sure she gets upstairs okay. She finishes the pie and puts it in the oven to bake before setting the timer and heading upstairs. She washes her hands in the bathroom before going into the bedroom and finding Pepper lying down in bed. She had the radio on and she was rhythmically stroking Rocket's fur as the puppy stretched out asleep next to her. Gwen gets in bed next to her daughter and Pepper opens her eyes, looking back over her shoulder.

"How are you doing?"

"Okay."

"Still having contractions?" Pepper nods and rolls onto her back with a wince.

"Yeah." Gwen rubs Pepper's stomach softly.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I think so." Pepper takes a deep breath and lets it out through her next contraction.

"Do you want to go to the hospital and have you called your doctor?"

"No and yeah, she told me to call her back when Tony gets here and see where we're at." Gwen nods and smiles.

"Okay, is there anything I can do?" Pepper shakes her head and smiles.

"I think I'm okay right now."

..ironman

Tony was climbing up the stairs in a towel to the bedroom chugging a sports drink and rubbing a towel over his wet hair when Gwen stopped him at the top of the stairs. He quickly brings the towel down to cover the reactor.

"Be quiet when you go in there. Pepper's been having contractions and she just fell asleep. We talked to the doctor fifteen minutes ago and she said that we were fine to stay here for the mean time." Tony nods and goes into the bedroom and discards his towel. He puts on sweat pants and sits next to Pepper on the bed, watching as her face twitches in discomfort occasionally. He lies down and pulls a sheet over his chest before falling asleep with her. When he wakes up in the morning he finds Pepper sitting on the edge of her bed trying to rub her back as her face screws up in discomfort. Tony scoots over and takes her hand from her back starting to rub for her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Mostly okay…the contractions aren't too bad they're just uncomfortable, about the same as last night."

"What do you want to do?"

"Stay here as long as possible, my water hasn't broke and everything's still holding up down there."

"Okay, we can do that. Just tell me when you want to go and what you want me to do."

"Will you make sure we have everything packed?" Tony nods.

"Are you hungry?"

"I could go for some toast and some tea…"

"Alright, I'll go get you that and then check the bag."

"I'm going to have Jarvis start me a bath so I'll probably be in there." Tony nods and gets up going downstairs, meeting Gwen and Tom in the kitchen.

"How's she doing?"

"Okay, she's going to take a bath right now, I think we're going to be here a while though. She said she's feeling about the same as last night, and everything's holding up." Gwen nods and hands Tony tea and toast with a smile.

"Thanks."

"Go upstairs and be with her." Tony nods and takes the tea and toast upstairs to the bathroom where Pepper was soaking in the Jacuzzi. He sets it down for her and smiles.

"Feel better?"

"Yeah."

"I'm gonna check that bag and then do you want me to get in with you?" Pepper nods as she leans her head back, taking a deep breath. Tony kisses Pepper's head softly before going to check on their bag. He makes sure they have everything they need, adding a few items before going back to the bathroom. Tony gets undressed and gets in the opposite side of the tub. He takes Pepper's feet in his hands and starts to rub.

"You're doing really good at this." Pepper smiles in her dozing state, not opening her eyes.

"This is hardly anything, I'm pretty sure I'm not even technically in labor yet."

"Well you're off to a good start."

"Thanks." Pepper smiles and wiggles her toes in Tony's hand.

"Thank you for rubbing my feet and getting my food."


	12. Chapter 12

A day and a half had passed since Pepper had started having contractions. Gwen and Tom were out at the grocery store and Tony was in his makeshift workshop while Pepper was lounging in the living room. She pushes herself up from the couch and sighs once she's standing, heading for the bathroom.

Tony pulls his goggles down as he starts to solder on his chest plate. He wipes off his iron a couple times before going back down to finish up his work.

"TONY!" Tony jumps as Pepper's yell rings through the penthouse, his right hand slipping and searing his left hand's skin with the iron. He drops it down onto the holder and sticks his hand into his mouth, trying to soothe the burn as he hops up and starts to run in the direction of Pepper's voice.

"Tony!" Tony rounds the corner and runs into the bathroom door, flattening himself onto the ground. Pepper opens the door a second later and looks down at Tony with a sheepish look on her face.

"What?"

"We can go to the hospital now."

"Oh." Tony pulls himself up and licks his burn again.

"Jarvis can I get traffic reports for all routes to the hospital?"

"Shortest route is estimated at two hours in traffic at the moment. An ambulatory vehicle is not expected to fair much better as the three-mile radius surrounding the building is in gridlock. However the company helicopter is available. That would be expected to be approximately five minutes between arrival on the roof and arrival at the hospital."

"Have them send it over."

"Yes, sir."

"And call my in laws and tell them we're going to the hospital."

"Of course." Tony reaches past Pepper and pulls out a bandaid putting it over his burn before kissing her.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." Pepper smiles.

"Surprisingly so." Tony helps Pepper to the living room and gets her settled on the couch before going to gather their bag. He grabs a few more things before meeting her downstairs.

"Ready?" Pepper nods and holds a hand out to Tony. He takes it and helps her up before smiling.

"Jarvis, protocol 5 after we leave."

"Of course sir." Tony helps Pepper out of the apartment and to the elevator, pressing the button for the roof. Once they get there they wait behind the door until the Stark Industries helicopter lands on the platform. Tony hurries Pepper across the platform and helps her in before climbing up himself. He buckles his belt and slides the door shut before putting on his headset. He gives the pilot their destination before offering his hand to Pepper. She latches onto it and squeezes tightly as a contraction rolls through her body. After a couple minutes she gives him a thumbs up as her grip relaxes. Tony laughs and grins softly at his wife.

..ironman

After getting settled at the hospital and spending a another half day napping, talking, and moving around her room, Pepper reaches out and tugs on Tony's shirt as he sits next to the bed doodling in his notebook.

"I wanna take a walk."

"You want to take a walk?"

"Mmhm, it's supposed to move things along…"

"Okay." Tony closes his notebook and gets up. He adjusts Pepper's bed before helping her stand up. He makes sure her IV is okay before kissing her head softly.

"Do you want to hold onto the pole or do you want me to?"

"You can." Tony wraps the IV behind them and holds onto the pole with his right hand before wrapping his left arm around Pepper's waist. She wraps her arm around him back and smiles as they go out into the hall and start to walk around the floor. After a few rounds Pepper squeezes Tony.

"We should go back to the room."

"Okay." Tony walks Pepper back to their room and gets her into bed before getting her a glass of water and the bag of trail mix she'd packed. Pepper takes a drink before opening the bag and starting to pick out M&Ms. She eats for a few minutes before her doctor comes in with a smile in purple scrubs.

"How are you doing?"

"The contractions are getting kind of…"

"Are you still okay without medication?" Pepper nods and closes up her bag handing it to Tony as she sits up a bit.

"How long have the contractions been?" The doctor asks as she sits down on a stool before wheeling herself to the end of Pepper's bed.

"About two minutes every six." Tony replies as he holds onto Pepper's hand as she breathes through another contraction. After she finishes she takes a deep breath and lets it out.

"They've been eight not six."

"That's just as good as six. Closer together means we're closer to having the baby." The doctor smiles and pulls a glove on before checking Pepper's dilation.

"Alright, we're at about a seven right now. I'll be back in an hour to check on you, if you feel like you need to push before then, press the nurse alert button and they'll page me."

"Okay." Pepper stretches her legs out and sighs. She'd been in labor for over fifty hours, needless to say she was getting restless.

"How much longer is this going to take?"

"It could be twenty minutes it could be hours. Your water hasn't broken yet and the baby's doing okay, just hold in there. If you want medication or want to talk about other options…"

"No this is…this is working…just a bit longer than I thought."

"That's okay, your body's just taking its time." Pepper's doctor stands up and takes off her gloves before washing her hands.

"Do you want me to have them send a dinner tray around for you?" Pepper shakes her head.

"My parents are coming up in a little bit."

"Okay. Call me if anything changes okay?" Pepper nods and takes a deep breath as she rubs her belly softly.

"I know you don't want to but you do have to come out eventually. Preferably in the next couple hours." Tony laughs softly and leans his head on his hand.

"I'm sorry about this."

"It's not your fault." Tony nods and grins at Pepper.

"Mom was in labor with me for four days."

"FOUR DAYS!" Pepper's eyes widen as she exclaims.

"Yeah, took my time with that."

"Tony if I'm in here for two more days I'll kill you…slowly."

..ironman

By the time her doctor had made it back an hour and a half later (she'd had another patient give birth in that time) Pepper's labor was rolling along as if it hadn't been the better part of two and a half days since it started. Tony was sitting in the bed behind Pepper, supporting her and massaging her back through her contractions as her mom held onto her hand and whispered comforting words to her daughter. Pepper digs her nails into Tony's thigh and lets out a short yell.

"Sounds like we're ready to have a baby." The doctor puts gloves on before checking Pepper's dilation.

"Okay, very good news, we're at nine centimeters. So I'm going to go get some things set up okay? Then we'll have a baby."

"Thank god." Tony rubs a cool cloth over Pepper's forehead and kisses her temple.

"We're almost there baby." Pepper whimpers and lets out a low groan as her next contraction comes on. The doctor comes back half an hour later with everything that was needed before putting on throw away scrubs and returning to her stool and snapping on gloves.

"How are you feeling about this position Pepper? Do you wanna give a couple pushes and try it out?" Pepper nods.

"Okay, give a push with the next contraction." Pepper tightens her hold on her mom's hand and groans as she pushes.

"Ow owwww!" Pepper stops pushing and arches her back, a couple tears rolling down her face from the pain.

"Are you feeling a lot of pain in your back?" Pepper nods and wipes away the tears on her face.

"Okay, I'm going to suggest we try squatting, does that sound alright?"

"Yeah." The doctor nods and brings the squatting stool over to the end of the bed and helps Pepper onto it before showing Tony how to support her and instructing Gwen to towel her face every couple moments.

"Alright let's try a push here." Pepper holds tight onto Tony's hands and takes a deep breath before starting to push.

"Does that feel better?"

"Yeah the back pain is gone."

"Alright, I want you to keep pushing with the contractions, he's working his way down right now." Pepper nods and follows her doctor's instructions until the baby's head starts to come out.

"Small pushes, okay? We don't want you to tear." Pepper takes a deep breath and continues to push slowly, letting out a whimper with every one.

"Alright, give me a big push to get his head out." Tony flexes his arm as Pepper clenches hard onto his hand before letting out a cry as she pushes hard, feeling the baby's head move out of her.

"Do you want to see his head?" Pepper nods and whimpers. The doctor grabs a mirror and positions it so Pepper and Tony can see the baby's head and face.

"See you're doing great. I need you to just relax a couple moments while I help his shoulders." The doctor lays the mirror down and reaches out, helping one shoulder out before looking at Pepper.

"Do you want to catch your baby?" Pepper nods and Gwen towels off her face.

"Alright, let go of Tony, he's got you." Pepper lets go of Tony's hands and reaches down, putting her hands where the doctor shows her.

"Alright, give it a push…" Pepper gives a push, moaning as the other shoulder comes out. The doctor guides her fingers under his armpits and gives her a hand pulling as she pushes again, the baby coming out. Pepper gasps and slumps back into Tony pulling the baby to her chest as the baby lets out a cry a moment later. She takes a warm damp towel from the doctor and starts to wipe him off as she tears up, staring at his face.

"Hi baby…shh, it's okay…mommy and daddy are here." Howard quiets as Pepper talks to him and wipes him off. The doctor takes the damp towel and hands up a dry one, helping Pepper wrap him loosely. The tiny baby had a thick head of Tony's inky colored locks and looked up at her with his chocolate brown eyes. Tony chokes back his own tears before reaching out and rubbing his son's hair softly.

"Hi Howard…" Pepper looks up at Tony and kisses him softly.

"Thank you." Tony moves out from behind Pepper and helps her sit back on the bed. Howard snuffles as he rubs his face against Pepper's breast. She moves her gown to the side and helps him latch on, gasping as he starts to suckle hungrily.

"That's my boy." Pepper laughs tiredly as she looks up at Tony's silly grin. The doctor delivers and checks the placenta and quietly prompts Tony to cut the cord before cleaning it up. By the time she finishes cleaning up Howard was done eating.

"I need him for just a couple minutes." Pepper nods and reluctantly lets Howard go, keeping an eye on him as she smiles thankfully at her mother.

"Thank you for being here."

"Thanks for letting me." Gwen squeezes Pepper's hand.

"You did great honey. I'm going to go call your father okay?" Pepper nods and yawns. The doctor brings Howard back over a couple minutes after Gwen leaves and hands him to Pepper.

"Nine pounds three ounces twenty inches long. Ten fingers, ten toes."

"Thank you so much."

"A nurse is going to be in in about half an hour to check on you guys okay? Otherwise I'll see you later this afternoon." Tony and Pepper both nod absently as they stare at their son who was staring back at them.

"He's perfect Tony…"

"Of course he is…he's a Stark." Tony reaches down and picks Howard up before settling into the bed next to Pepper. She rests her head on his shoulder and watches as he holds the bundle carefully.

"I love you Howie…yeah, Papa loves you…"


	13. Chapter 13

After spending a few days in the hospital they were being discharged that afternoon. Tony had packed everything up while Pepper had fed Howard. Now he was pacing the room with his son while they waited for Happy to get to the hospital. Pepper was still laying on the bed in her hospital gown, having forgot that even though the baby was out that didn't mean she was going to fit back into her jeans right away so Happy was bringing her a dress to wear home. Howard however was dressed in the outfit Tony had packed for him. He was wearing baby jeans over a blue polo onsie as well as the cap and booties that her mom had knitted for him, which had conveniently matched Tony's outfit for the day, right down to the cap on his head except for his shoes. Tony's were Italian leather and Howard's were cotton. A soft knock on the door breaks both of them out of their quietness and Tony goes to open the door, letting Happy in. Pepper gets out of bed and takes the dress from him.

"Thank you so much." Pepper goes into the private bathroom and shuts the door to get changed while Tony shows Howard off to his friend. Pepper comes out a few minutes later dressed in a black sundress and sandals.

"Ready to go babe?" Pepper nods and smiles. Happy takes their bag as Tony grabs Howards blanket. A nurse comes in and has Tony sign the last of the paperwork before settling Pepper into the wheelchair.

"We've already been downstairs and inspected the car to make sure everything is in working order, so you guys are good to go."

"Thank you." Tony hands the baby over and covers him with his blanket before starting to push them out of the hospital. Once they get out back the car was swarmed with paparazzi and news crews being held back by hospital security. Happy puts the bag in the trunk before opening the backseat door and helping Pepper and Howard in while Tony gets in on the opposite side. After the doors are shut Pepper pulls down a privacy screen that Tony had installed, handing her husband the blanket covering their son. She tucks him into his car seat and buckles him up before tucking his blanket around his legs as Happy starts to drive away from the hospital. The baby opens his eyes and Pepper smiles at him, stroking his cheek softly.

"Hi my sweet boy." Howard lets out a big yawn before blinking a couple times and rolling his head to look at Tony. Tony strokes his son's head and smiles at him. Within an hour they were back at the penthouse, carefully unloading Howard from the car and going inside quickly. Once they get upstairs, Gwen immediately has her hands on the baby, lifting him out of his carseat.

"Hello my sweet darling grandson." Tony sets the carseat by the door and lays Howard's blanket on the couch. Pepper sits down on the couch as Howard starts to fuss in her mother's arms.

"Baby will you hand me that pillow please?" Pepper indicates a pillow on a chair at the end of the couch. Tony grabs the pillow and hands it to Pepper. She positions it under her arm before holding her hands out for Howard. Gwen hands him over and then hands Pepper his blanket. Pepper tucks her hair out of her face and covers Howard with his blanket before moving the shoulder of her dress and helping him latch on, smiling at him as he starts to eat hungrily.

"Such a hungry little boy." After feeding and burping Howard, Pepper lays him down in his Moses basket before putting it in the holder they had in the living room, kissing his cheek softly. The baby coos softly and Pepper smiles at him, rocking him softly until he falls asleep. Straightening herself up she looks at Tony, who was standing next to her.

"What do we do now?" Tony shrugs and looks at Pepper.

"Usually I'd say let's have sex but…" Pepper smacks Tony in the abs and glares at him slightly.

"Maybe we could take a nap?" Pepper looks at her mom.

"Mommy? What do we do?"

"You two get comfortable on the couch. I'm going to make you lunch while your Dad takes Rocket for a walk."

"Oh…okay…I'm going to go put some sweatpants on." Pepper goes up to the bedroom and grabs her yoga pants and Tony's MIT t-shirt. She changes into the clothes and pulls her hair up, going back downstairs. Tony had Howard sitting in his Moses basket on the couch next to him, stroking his belly softly as he watches TV. Pepper lays down next to him and lays her head on his leg, pulling a knit blanket over her legs and sighing. After twenty minutes Gwen brings out sandwiches and chips for the two of them also setting down two waterbottles. Pepper sits up and thanks her mom before starting to eat. She finishes most of her sandwich and chips before giving the rest to Tony. She takes a drink of her water before lying back down and closing her eyes, falling asleep. When she wakes up again her parents are not to be found and Tony's standing over Howard with a measuring tape. She sits up and yawns.

"What are you doing?"

"Measuring him."

"Why? He was just measured three days ago." Pepper gets up and goes over to Tony, kissing his shoulder.

"Suit measurements."

"Tony you are not building our three day old son an Iron Man suit!" Tony arches his eyebrow and looks at Pepper.

"What?"

"Suit measurements?"

"Yeah, I bought him a suit a few weeks ago and I'm going to have it tailored." Tony marks down his son's measurements before kissing Pepper.

"You bought him a suit?"

"Yep. For his first day at the office." Howard stretches out and yawns and Pepper smiles as she reaches down and smoothes his hair. The little boy sinks back down into his basket and starts to play with his tongue.

"He's so perfect…" Tony nods and wraps his arm around Pepper.

"We did good…you did good." Tony kisses Pepper's head and smiles at her. She smiles back at him and kisses his lips.

"Do you want to feed him tonight before bed? I can pump a bottle after I feed him."

"You sure?" Pepper nods.

"Yeah, you should get to bond with him too."

"Okay." Pepper smiles and kisses Tony again before reaching down to pick up Howard as he starts to grizzle. She kisses his cheek and checks his diaper before taking him upstairs to change him, making sure to take care of his stub before redressing him in a soft coverall. She sinks down into the rocking chair and lifts her top up, helping him latch on, patting his back softly as he eats and she rocks. Once he finishes she burps him and kisses his cheek as Tony comes into the room.

"You wanna spend some time with Daddy?" Pepper hands the baby up to Tony and smiles at him, winking softly.

"I'll come get you when I'm done?" Tony nods and kisses Howard's cheek as he takes him from the nursery and to the bedroom. He turns the tv on low and lays him on the bed. He takes off his coverall before taking off his own shirt and climbing into the bed. He lifts his son and lays him on his chest, watching as his eyes wide and his hand reaches out for the reactor, laying over it. After a few minutes of listening to the permanent humming in his father's chest the baby closes his eyes and falls asleep. Tony tugs the quilt over them and closes his own eyes.

Pepper pumps two feedings for Howard before going towards the bedroom, smiling when she finds both of her boys asleep. The baby had his head lying next to the arc reactor and his fingers were curling over it softly in his sleep. Tony's hand was wrapped around his body protectively. Pepper shuts the door quietly and goes downstairs, meeting her parents who were just coming in, each of them carrying a to go bag. Rocket barks softly and jumps up on Pepper's legs. She reaches down and picks the puppy up.

"Hi baby!" Rocket delivers a long lick to Pepper's cheek before resting his head against her shoulder.

"Where did you guys go?"

"We went to pick up dinner. I hope Italian's okay?" Pepper nods and sets Rocket down.

"Yeah that's fine."

"Tony is…"

"Upstairs taking a nap with the baby." Gwen and Tom take the bags to the kitchen and start unpacking them. Pepper follows them and sits on one of the stools thanking her dad when he hands her a box. She opens it up and takes a fork, starting to eat the raviolis they'd gotten for her. Gwen rubs her daughter's back softly.

"How are you feeling honey?" Pepper finishes chewing the bite in her mouth before swallowing and nodding.

"Okay, I'm just kind of at a loss as to what to do…I want to take him outside and go for a walk, but…" 

"But there's over a hundred people outside waiting for you to leave."

"Yeah."

"So enjoy a couple days relaxing, didn't you say that photographer is coming on Friday afternoon?" Pepper nods.

"Yeah."

"So enjoy tomorrow and Friday morning and we'll see where we're at then okay?" Pepper nods.

"And you don't need to worry about him all the time. He's going to spend most of his day sleeping, read a book, do some drawing, sleep…"

"Okay." Gwen kisses her daughter's cheek and smiles at her.

"That's my girl." Pepper smiles back before starting to eat her dinner. She finishes it and gets a cookie out of the cupboard, going to check on Tony as she munches. Licking her fingers clean she opens the bedroom door and smiles when she sees both of the boys awake, two heads filled with chocolate brown hair sticking up all over the place. Tony had Howard propped up against his thighs and was talking to him, occasionally pausing as the baby makes a couple sounds back at him. She walks over to the bed and sits next to the boys.

"Hi."

"Hi." Tony smiles at Pepper and laughs as Howard rolls his head, making a small sound at Pepper. She reaches out a hand and smoothes his hair down before reaching out to Tony and smoothing his hair down.

"Mom and Dad got you spaghetti and meatballs and his bottles are downstairs in the fridge for when he gets hungry."

"Okay." Pepper takes Howard from Tony so he can get out of bed and get dressed. She bounces the baby softly and kisses his nose with a smile.

"Are you mommy's big boy?" Howard sneezes as Pepper's hair tickles his nose and she laughs softly.

"Bless you." Pepper wipes his nose off before handing him back to Tony who had put on sweatpants and a t-shirt. She leans up and kisses his lips softly.

"He likes the reactor."

"I noticed earlier when I checked in on you guys." Pepper stops by the nursery on the way downstairs and gets Howard's Nuk that he'd come home from the hospital with. Once they get downstairs she takes him from Tony and puts the Nuk in his mouth as she stands in the kitchen with Tony as he heats up his food.

"Do you want to give him a bath together before you feed him?" Tony nods as he mixes up his pasta before checking the temperature with his finger.

"That sounds good. Rhodey's coming out tomorrow." Tony deposits his pasta and meatballs into a bowl before walking with Pepper to the living room.

"That sounds good. Do you guys have any plans?" Tony shakes his head and takes a bite.

"He's coming to see Howie."

"Okay." Pepper looks down at Howard and smiles at him softly.

"Are you excited to meet Uncle Rhodey?" Tony lets out a laugh as he covers his mouth.

"Uncle Rhodey, that's priceless."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you'll get some teasing for being Daddy."

"Really? I was thinking I was more Papa than Daddy."

"No my dad's Papa." Pepper looks at Tony.

"Papa is a Grandpa nickname not a Dad nickname…unless we lived in Europe which we don't."

"Fun sucker."

"It's your fun that started this discussion a long nine months ago." Pepper grins and winks softly at Tony before kissing his shoulder softly.

"What time is James supposed to be here?"

"Afternoon."

"Okay." Pepper rests her head on Tony's shoulder as he eats, her eyes cast down at Howard as she plays with him a little bit. The baby stares at Pepper and wiggles as she wiggles her fingers against his belly.

"Such a silly boy! Yes you are, you're such a silly baby." Tony reaches out and tickles his foot, laughing as he jerks it back from his hand making an angry sound.

"I wonder who he learned that sound from." Tony gives Pepper a look and she elbows him in the ribs softly. She smoothes her hand over Howard's belly and leans down, kissing his nose softly.

"I can't believe you're here sitting on the couch with us…" Tony nods and looks over Pepper's shoulder at their baby.

"Just the other day he was in your belly making a ruckus."

"58 hours of labor…that should be long enough to hold it over his head and your head for a while don't you think?" 

"Oh hush."


	14. Chapter 14

Pepper lifts Howard away from her breast after she finishes feeding him and starts to rub his back to burp him. It was early in the morning and everyone was still asleep. Tony had taken advantage of the second bottle and gotten up with him during the night for one feeding so she knew he'd be asleep for a while longer. After Howard gives her a couple burps she changes his diaper and gets him dressed for the day. She pulls her hair up and rubs her son's stomach softly.

"How about we go down to Starbucks and get some coffee?" Howard coos and Pepper smiles.

"That's mommy's little man." Pepper lays him in the crib with his Nuk before grabbing a pair of yoga pants from the laundry room and putting those on. She ties her shirt off to the side and puts her sandals on. She assembles his stroller and lays him down in it before kissing his nose. Grabbing her billfold she tucks it in the stroller next to Howard's feet along with her Blackberry and sunglasses before pushing him into the elevator. As they descend to the bottom floor Pepper playfully tickles Howard's feet, smiling as he kicks excitedly. Once they get downstairs she puts her sunglasses on and pulls the visor on the stroller forward a bit more before pushing it outside. Surprisingly it was early enough there was only one person with a camera waiting outside of the building and Pepper managed to give him the slip quickly, not allowing him to get a picture of Howard. On the travel to the Starbucks down the block she notices more and more cameras following her so she pulls the visor down all the way and ducks into the familiar green and white-signed shop. She rolls the stroller back and forth to keep Howard content as she stands in the miraculously short line. Once she gets to the front she orders her regular latte asking for it half caff and drinkable before paying for it and thanking the barista when she hands over the cup. Finding a secluded corner table Pepper sits down in the chair and positions the stroller in front of her so no one can see the baby. She opens the visor and smiles at the baby.

"Hi sweet boy." Howard spits out his Nuk and coos at Pepper. She smiles and tickles his belly softly, taking a drink of her coffee. Howard eventually falls asleep and Pepper finishes her coffee, tossing her cup in the recycle bin. She kisses his cheek before closing the visor again and putting her sunglasses back on, heading out of the store into an awaiting mob of people. After a couple minutes of trying to work her way through the crowd one of the photogs bumps into the stroller hard and Pepper flattens him out on the ground in a matter of seconds before hurrying herself and the stroller into the next open business, which was a clothing store. She sinks down in a chair in the back and takes her sunglasses off, wiping her tears away. Flipping the visor up on the stroller she lifts Howard out and tries to shush his piercing cries. Pepper thanks the sales girl as she brings over a glass of water for her asking if she could do anything.

"Can you just…make sure none of them comes in?"

"Yeah of course." Pepper continues to rub Howard's back as he cries getting out her Blackberry before calling Tony. When he doesn't pick up she calls again, glad to hear her husband's drowsy voice.

"Mmm…Hello?"

"Tony? I need you to come get us."

"Us…wha…Pepper where are you?"

"At a boutique a few doors down from Starbucks. I just…I just need you to come down here, please." Pepper whimpers out the last part as Howard continues to cry into her shoulder.

"Okay, okay, I'm on my way." Tony shows up at the shop five minutes later in the suit and Pepper rolls her red eyes with a small smile as he comes into the shop. Howard was mostly just fussing and wiggling in her hold, stopping when he sees the reactor again. Tony takes off his helmet and kneels in front of Pepper and the baby.

"What happened?"

"I wanted to go get coffee this morning since we were up so early…so we left and there was like one guy outside and I ditched him but by the time I got to Starbucks there were like fifteen people following me. Tony, I was in there for half an hour, by the time we came out there were over a hundred. And I was fine walking back, most of them were getting out of my way but one of them bumped into the stroller and he freaked out and I freaked out and flattened him out on his ass with that thing you taught me. And then I came in here and called you." Tony kisses Pepper's head and nods.

"Okay. Come on lets go." Pepper holds Howard close to her and covers him with his blanket as Tony walks them back to the apartment. Once they get inside Pepper checks on Howard and finds him sleeping peacefully.

"Such a good boy…" Pepper lays him down in his Moses basket next to the couch as Tony goes to take the suit off. She lays on the couch and reaches out to stroke her son's cheek softly, new tears starting to work their way down her face. Once Tony comes back and finds her crying on the couch he sinks onto his knees on the floor next to her.

"What's wrong baby?"

"I can't protect him. I can't stop them from talking about him…I feel like I'm in a zoo and the zookeepers just took my baby and put him in another zoo halfway around the world." Pepper lets out a small sob.

"I mean have you heard the things they're saying about him? He's four days old an-an-and they're talking about him being deformed or brain damaged. Last night they arrested a photographer breaking into the maternity ward at the hospital we had him at! Today! Today I freaked out and knocked a guy out because I had a panic attack because there were a hundred people trying to get a picture of our baby and someone knocked into him and scared him. I can't…" Tony wraps his arms around Pepper and holds her close, shushing her as she bursts into tears. He rubs her back softly.

"It's okay baby." Tony rubs Pepper's back for a while to calm her down before pulling back.

"I don't know what to do Tony…I feel trapped staying inside, I don't know what to do with him, but I don't want to leave him here to go out. But once I go outside it's like being in the world's worst crowd and I still feel like I can't go anywhere. And I just…wanna knock everyone away from him, but at the same time I wanna show him off and be like, I did this, I spend nine months carrying him and almost 60 hours in labor for him. And he's fine and perfect…and I just feel so lost."

"We'll get a restraining order, and we'll be out of the city soon and back in Malibu where we can take him outside and take him to the beach and the store…okay?"

"Okay." Pepper sniffles and wipes her face off.

"How about I make you some eggs and toast?"

"With fruit?"

"Yeah you can have fruit too." Pepper smiles weakly.

"Okay." Tony kisses Pepper's head before getting up and going to the kitchen. Howard wakes up and stretches out, fussing softly. Pepper reaches down and lifts her son up, kissing him.

"Shhh honey. Mama's here." Pepper holds Howard close and kisses his head, burying her nose in his hair.

"Are you hungry?" Howard lets out a long whine and Pepper smiles softly before lying down and shifting her top so he can latch on. She rests her nose back on his head and takes in his smell, closing her eyes in contentment.

"Mama loves you so much Howard."


	15. an epilogue of sorts

Pepper finishes filling the frames laid out in front of her before hanging them up on the nails that had been placed for them. She was happy to be back in Malibu after the week they'd spent in New York after Howard's birth. They'd just gotten their prints back from Vanity Fair and she was putting them in frames along with pictures Tony had taken at the hospital. Once she finishes hanging them she wipes her hands on her jeans before going in search of her husband and son. Finding Tony and Howard laying on a blanket in the yard under a tree Pepper smiles. She walks over to them, curling her toes in the grass softly. Once she reaches them she sinks down to her knees before sitting down and smiling at the baby.

"Hi sweet pea. Did Daddy bring you outside to play with you?" Pepper reaches over and tickles Howard's belly softly, smiling as he wiggles happily. Tony looks over at Pepper and reaches out to tuck her hair behind her ear.

"You feeling better?" Pepper looks at Tony and smiles with a nod.

"I feel a lot better since we left the city."

"Good." Tony smiles before looking back at Howard as he lets out a loud sound.

"What? You want my attention too?" Tony leans down and presses his nose to Howard's looking at him cross-eyed. Howard reaches up and bops Tony on the head. Pepper laughs and covers her mouth in innocence as Tony turns his head to look at her.

"Sorry." Pepper lets out another giggle before stretching out next to Howard.

"So…maybe we could go to dinner and the grocery store later?"

"Sure we can do that." Pepper smiles before kissing Howard's cheek softly.

"Mama wants to show you off." Howard makes a sound and taps Pepper's face. She grabs his hand and kisses his palm softly.

"Yeah, I bet you're a little show off."


End file.
